2011 PRIZE PACKAGE:  Roundtrip airfare for two (2) people to Lisbon, Portugal. Three days (3) hotel accomodations, meals and ground transportation.

Willamette Valley Vineyards and the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance are proud to announce that Amorim Cork, the world’s largest cork producer, is now a partner in the Trip to Portugal contest. Amorim Cork will provide hotel accommodations, meals, and ground transportation for three days. The winners will fly into Lisbon to a tour of a cork forest and will then travel to Porto to visit Amorim’s production facility. 

Willamette Valley Vineyards wants you to save the cork from every bottle of wine you drink.

Why? Because Willamette Valley Vineyards is a pioneer in cork recycling and the first winery in the world to be certified by the Rainforest Alliance for using 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified cork. Willamette Valley Vineyards was instrumental in helping to found the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, an environmental nonprofit, whose cork recycling program Cork ReHarvest is leading this movement in the US, Canada and the UK.

Your cork can take you to Portugal.

For every three (3) pounds of cork you bring to the show, you will receive one ticket for the trip drawing.

The individual entering the most cork in the contest will win a one-year complimentary membership to Willamette Valley Vineyard's Wine Club (6 shipments/year).

What is so special about cork?

- Cork is a natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material that is obtained through an environmentally friendly harvesting process.

- The trees are not cut down to harvest the cork, the bark is hand harvested every 9 years. Cork oak trees can live up to 300 years.

- Approximately 6.6 million acres extending across Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France, the cork oak forests support one of the world's highest levels of forest biodiversity, second only to the Amazon Rainforest.

- Opting for screw caps and plastic stoppers directly causes the loss of sustainable livelihoods as the cork forests are a vital source of income for thousands of families.

Contest Rules

-Participants must be 21 years old or older.

-All corks must be dropped off at the Better Living Show March 25-27, 2011 to be counted for this contest. All entries must be received by 4pm on Sunday, March 27, 2011.

-Airfare for two (2) people will be awarded.

-Groups may pool their cork resources (restaurants, hotels, friends, wine clubs, etc.), however it is the responsibility of the winning party to decide which participant in the pool is awarded the trip.

-The decision made by representatives of Willamette Valley Vineyards is final.

The cork forests of the Mediterranean are second to the Amazon Forest in importance to the world's biosphere. These forests are in danger. The increased use of plastic stoppers and aluminum screw caps are reducing the use of natural cork- increasing the danger of global warming. Cork trees naturally remove carbon from the air and sequester it in their bark - and pump oxygen back into the atmosphere. If we choose wine sealed with natural cork, we help the environment. Conversely, aluminum ore mining and processing, using high levels of electricity, is resulting in substantial negative ecological effects. The same is true of petroleum-based plastic stopper manufacturing.

Corks collected by Cork ReHarvest will continue to be used in the wine industry as they are utilized to produce molded fiber wine shippers. With our partners and your help, we can have a significant impact in saving the cork forests and reuse this remarkable natural resource.

read Jim's full blog post