International

Portugal Plots Comeback for Natural Cork

By Jerome Socolovsky

Published May 28, 2008 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Corks have been steadily replaced by synthetic stoppers and metal screwcaps on wine bottles. The decline in traditional corks has hurt the economy of Portugal, which produces more than half the world's cork. Now, a leading Portuguese cork maker has developed a process that steams out the fungus that causes cork taint, which can ruin a bottle of wine. Plus, cork is being touted as environmentally friendly.

International

Jerome Socolovsky

Jerome Socolovsky is the Audio Storytelling Specialist for NPR Training. He has been a reporter and editor for more than two decades, mostly overseas. Socolovsky filed stories for NPR on bullfighting, bullet trains, the Madrid bombings and much more from Spain between 2002 and 2010. He has also been a foreign and international justice correspondent for The Associated Press, religion reporter for the Voice of America and editor-in-chief of Religion News Service. He won the Religion News Association's TV reporting award in 2013 and 2014 and an honorable mention from the Association of International Broadcasters in 2011. Socolovsky speaks five languages in addition to his native Spanish and English. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and graduate degrees from Hebrew University and the Harvard Kennedy School. He's also a sculler and a home DIY nut.