Even as the wine world debates whether the time is up for natural cork, Europe this year has had the biggest cork harvest in the last nine years, bringing in 140,000 tonnes of raw cork, according to Jochen Michalski, President of the Cork Supply Group, a provider of premium natural cork wine stoppers, quoted in a media release.

"The 2006 harvest is well over 50% larger than last year," says Michalski. "This huge increase is welcomed since last year's harvest was so low."

This year Portugal, the largest producer of raw cork, will see 110,000 tonnes, while the number two producer, Spain, will see 30,000 tonnes.

"At the beginning of the harvest, we saw some price jumps, probably because of last year's shortages," said Michalski. "Fortunately, thanks in large part to our five foresters who work directly with growers in the cork forests, we knew prices would be falling later in the season and we've been able to take advantage of that fact by getting better quality cork at lower prices."

Cork is produced from the bark of the quercus suber tree, also called cork oak, which grows predominantly in Portugal and a few other countries about the Mediterranean. The trees are stripped every nine to ten years, when the bark is thick enough to allow viable commercial use. By cycling the production schedule of trees, cork foresters maintain a consistent and reliable source of wood. Protected by the Portuguese government as a renewable resource, the average life span of a cork tree is more than 200 years.