Benefits of cork And it is used for many things, from the production of agglomerate for walls and floors to the manufacture of shoe insoles and even the lining of satellite capsules, but its main purpose is the sealing of bottles of alcoholic beverages -wines, spirits and cava- in the form of stoppers.

Auctions for wine corks sell in lots as small as 20 and as large as 500. The wine bottles usually sell for about 50 cents per bottle, but fancier bottles can fetch near $5.00 each (hint: Cobalt blue bottles!). Wine corks, however, generally sell for about 10 cents each.

They look like wood, but their spongy feel makes them seem a little different than wood. The fact is that natural corks are produced from the bark of the cork oak, Quercus suber. And this bark is stripped right off the live tree, in fact several times during the life of the tree.

Cork is composed of suberin, a hydrophobic substance. Because of its impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and fire retardant properties, it is used in a variety of products, the most common of which is wine stoppers.