Exploring the future of sustainable cork with Amorim

Last month our technical team travelled to Portugal to meet with Amorim Cork for a deep dive into the value of natural cork and it’s sustainability for the wine trade.

This visit was an opportunity to explore what it takes to deliver high-performance, truly sustainable cork stopper solutions for both the on-and off-trade - from bark to bottle, and beyond through to recycling.

Majestic Wine has been actively driving the conversation around wine, cork and circularity through its Cork Recycling programme. Launched in 2021 as the UK’s first national cork recycling scheme, the initiative encourages customers to return used natural cork stoppers in-store, where they are collected and recycled in partnership with Amorim and The Eden Project. With our customers increasingly asking us what we can do to help them recycle or re-use packaging, we are looking to see if we can extend this programme across Enotria and Vagabond.

We are also working with Amorim to find other commercial uses for recycled cork in the UK. One exciting product they have developed is called Corkeen, a revolutionary fall protection system for play spaces and playgrounds. At the other end of the spectrum, Amorim have a historical relationship with the aerospace industry, where cork products have long been used for their thermal protection properties in the Apollo, Ariane, Vega, Titan, Delta and most recently Artemis space exploration programmes.