Believe it or not, but 2001 marks the first vintage of Australian-grown cork. Ninety years ago Sir Walter Burley Griffin established the nine hectare Glenloch Cork Oak Plantation within Canberra’s Stromlo Forest, the southern hemisphere’s only cork ‘forest’. Although the trees are still some 15-20 years away from producing cork suitable for sealing wine bottles, this ‘stripping’ is crucial to the forest’s bark regeneration and development. Once in full production, the forest should yield between 600,000 and 750,000 corks every nine years. Major Portuguese cork producer Amorim brought to Australia two Portuguese cork strippers, Manual Silva and Manual Graca, to carry out the harvest.
