All of our corks are imported from the forests of Portugal. Unlike petroleum, gas, coal and other diminishing natural resources, cork is the outer bark that grows on replenish-able, renewable, inexhaustible evergreen oaks known by the Latin name Quercus (oak) Suber (cork). Almost 80% of the world’s cork comes from the Iberian Peninsula – Portugal (51%) and Spain (28%) where soil, temperature, rainfall, and wind conditions are ideal. Like cows that continually renew their supply of milk or moose that regrow their antlers – the cork tree regenerates its precious outer layer 12 or 13 times during its 150 year lifetime. The outer bark is harvested every 8 to 10 years after the initial first stripping at 15 to 20 years