I just saved you $14 at Pottery Barn
This seen by our undercover operatives at Pottery Barn: a bag of 55 wine bottle corks for $14. Not a wine stain on any of them! Stumped by why they were being sold (home winemakers wandering through the store perhaps?), our agent then spotted a square vase filled with the display corks. A good look, but a little sterile since the corks were mere props.
Just think that 55 bottles of $10 wine is only $550 — pleasure, memories, and, yes, corks, included. Then you can apply the $14 saved toward the cool vase. I’m looking forward to the bag of 55 screwcaps, due out soon.
What do you do with your used corks?
Related:
–Reduce, reuse…recork?
–13,500 bottles of wine ARE the wall
–To Cork or not to Cork, a giveaway
Feb
2
2008
On February 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 am ,marissa wrote:
we keep them in a couple of big vases. if it’s a special bottle or a special occasion, we’ll write the date on it too.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 am ,Michael Veseth wrote:
My wife Sue takes the used corks and makes festive holiday wreaths. She purchases a straw wreath form at the craft store, then puts a hole in each cork uses small nails. Toothpicks go into the corks, which are then inserted into the wreath form. The result is beautiful, memorable and low cost. I have seen commercial cork wreaths in stores and wine shops selling for $40 and more. I like Sue’s better both because of the lower cost and also because the corks have been used and this adds color and texture to the decoration.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am ,alvin wrote:
Sounds dorky, but I use old (real corks, not reconstituted or fake corks) corks to make hot pads for the kitchen. Just straighten out a metal coat hanger, work the corks on end-to-end. Keep corks from drying out by putting them in a zip-lock/similar air-tight container. It doesn’t take that many, so you can make enough to give out to family & friends.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm ,Amy wrote:
I’ve done a few things. For my wedding, we took corks from Melville,( the winery we were getting married at) and sawed a slit in them to make placecardholders. I also have kept sentimental ones at home put them in a serving tray end to end to make it more interesting. I’ll also admit to having a big pile of them that I’m still figuring out what to do with.. can’t seem to part with them. there should be a place to recycle these corks.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 5:18 pm ,Steve wrote:
We recondition them, fixing the hole from the corkscrew, bleaching out the wine stain, and sell them to the Pottery Barn.
Okay, really we throw them in a small crystal bowl.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Steve – Funny!
Amy – you can! Check out this company in MO that turns them into cork flooring etc
http://www.yemmhart.com/news+/winecorkrecycling.htm
Marissa, Michael, and Alvin – creative!
I personally recondition mine into a background for my web site.
On February 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 pm ,Lauren Schwartz wrote:
We’re boring and put them in a vase, but intend to do more creative things once we accumulate enough. We’re mere newlyweds, so we don’t have very many yet! However, we purchased a cork wreath for my parents a few years back and are hoping to make one ourselves. On a completely other note, we actually used wine bottles as the vases for our centerpieces at our wedding — only trouble was, we wanted a very particular bottle (Dauphin, Cotes du Rhone). Fortunately, it’s one of my parents’ favs, so they drank nothing but Dauphin every night the month before the wedding until we had the 30 bottles we needed. What great parents! 🙂
On February 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am ,Luis wrote:
We’re far more boring. We toss ours into a wicker trashcan next to our wine cabinet that we have affectionately nick-named “the cork-basket”. When it fills up, we’ll get a bigger one.
On February 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am ,1WineDude wrote:
This one is a no-brainer.
Old corks go into the awesome Wire Chicken, ruler of the kitchen counter!!
Wire Chicken can be viewed in all its glory here:
http://1winedude.blogspot.com/2008/01/wbw-41-talkin-tocai.html
Cheers!
On February 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm ,Justin S. wrote:
Pretty much what Luis said, except mine go into a 5 gallon PVC bucket. I have this silly faith that they will someday be useful for something so I keep them.
While nebulous at present, I am sure that I can come up with something better than the “Wine Cork Trivet”:
http://www.wineenthusiast.com/weimages/products/thumbnails/P217B.jpg
A little more ambitious is the wine cork bulletin board:
http://www.wineenthusiast.com/weimages/products/thumbnails/P140B.jpg
or message board:
http://www.winevine-imports.com/images/thumbs/t_660.jpg
I kind of like that last one. I think Martha Stewart made one of those a few years ago.
Or for the truly ambitious:
http://www.stratsplace.com/graphics/corks/john_d_finished_cork_wall_1.jpg
Note the window trim from sparkling wine corks.
On February 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm ,Gary wrote:
I used this idea:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/look/cork-place-holder-002497
but instead used them for a business card holder. I work in the wine industry, and it’s a nice kitchy accent on my desk.
Also, this tasting room in Dry Creek Valley (name escapes me) had cork key chains with their used corks on them for free. You can screw off the cork and put on one of your own, so I change it every few weeks to whatever cork I’ve recently popped.
On February 4th, 2008 at 4:04 am ,I am a bit corky at times | Wine Country wrote:
[…] Dr Vino, (a real doctor by the way) impressive wine writer on the web and in print media was pretty chuffed to land 55 used corks for only 14 bucks at Pottery Barn. […]
On February 4th, 2008 at 12:56 pm ,Katie wrote:
Tons of ideas here….I’m working toward doing the table top, but not before I move/relocate because I can’t imagine it will travel well!
http://lovemyearth.blogspot.com/2007/05/crazy-for-corks.html
On February 5th, 2008 at 12:16 pm ,Sonadora wrote:
I used them for placecard holders at my wedding a couple years ago.
Then I built a corkboard.
And now I think I will mass produce an army of cork reindeer.
On February 5th, 2008 at 2:38 pm ,Canadian Wine Lover wrote:
I save the special ones in a 23 litre carboy leftover from the days before I realized that boxed wine was crap. Looks great in the rec room. Every now and then I spot a gem and re-live a moment.
On February 7th, 2008 at 2:21 pm ,Faye wrote:
You can also grind them up in your food processor. Then us the cork mulch as a natural water preserver to mix into potting soil.
Take that, Martha!
On March 28th, 2008 at 5:33 pm ,GI Jane wrote:
I am using them to make a cork dress–never know when you’ll need one of those for a swanky wine event. It’s Corkin Klein Couture.
Ugh, selling corks-that’s as bad as pre-packaged beach glass.
On April 26th, 2008 at 2:04 pm ,Savage Pencil wrote:
Typical of the garbage the Barn sells routinely.
On May 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am ,Foie gras, corks, critters, seasons, Brunello - sipped and spit | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[…] into floor tile (and sidebars for wine blogs). Wouldn’t the CIA be better reusing them as festive holiday wreaths–or those iPhone […]
On January 28th, 2009 at 1:22 am ,Memories of 15,000 bottles of wine on the wall | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[…] “I just saved you $40 at Pottery Barn” 13,500 bottles of wine are the wall Map of the best wine shops in New York City Permalink […]
On May 18th, 2009 at 6:23 am ,Cork dork: Ten cool things to do with leftover wine corks | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[…] The cork vase: easy and can bring back some wine memories. As seen here at Pottery Barn. (Where we saved you $14 last […]