Lubrication Blog
♻️ We're ReCORK Partners! ♻️
We recently became a private collections partner with @recorkofficial, North America's largest wine cork recycling program!
ReCORK was launched in 2008 by Canadian footwear company SOLE. They are an alliance of businesses and individuals who work together to collect and repurpose natural wine corks. They use these corks to innovate and create natural, sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based foams and plastics.
Cork oak trees are fantastic carbon sinks. They absorb carbon from the air we breathe and lock it away in their bark. When the time comes to harvest the bark of the tree, which is what wine corks are made of, it is done so by hand only every nine years. This process causes no environmental damage and not a single tree gets cut down. Harvesting a cork oak tree's bark can extend the tree's lifespan to over 300 years. Every time a cork oak is harvested, it begins to regenerate its bark again. This process is also great for the planet as more carbon is taken out of the atmosphere and locked away in its new bark. The harvesting of the cork oak is one of the finest examples of traditional, sustainable land use. Cork oak forests are harvested for generations and cover nearly 2.7 million hectares of Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia, and France.
Every year, the equivalent of over 31 billion bottles of wine are consumed worldwide. Too many of the corks used as stoppers in these bottles are thrown away and litter our landfills. 🚛 With the help of thousands of partners across North America, ReCORK has collected over 110 million natural wine corks. 🤩
Cork is an extremely versatile material with benefits that extend far beyond being a great bottle stopper. Cork's naturally durable, moisture-wicking, lightweight, and rot-resistant qualities make it perfect for repurposing into a wide variety of eco-friendly products. Check out their 100% recycled cork products here.
As soon as we learned about the program, we immediately reached out to sign up. At Tank, we know that recycling our corks goes a long way to making a positive environmental impact. Since joining, we have donated over 30 pounds of corks. Recycle your corks and encourage others to do so!
May 23, 2022 at 10:53 AM
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Time to Fuel Up
It's time to fuel up your soul and hit the road.
Harkening back to our roots, Soul Fuel is a dark, luscious Napa Valley blend that is a complete throwback to wines like All or Nothing. That's right, we're back to big Zinfandel blends and vintage motorcycles, and it feels so good. 🍷
You love Zinfandel. We love Zinfandel. Everybody loves Zinfandel. So we made it the core of this wine. The fruit we got for this blend comes from the legendary valley floor where it enjoyed hot days and cool nights during the growing season which created the intensely concentrated blueberry flavor in this wine.
Zinfandel has a long history in Napa. Existing in somewhat protected, historic vineyards may be the main reason it’s held on, if just barely, against the surrounding waves of Cabernet Sauvignon. Zinfandel’s lost past was only recently found within the last 20 years, when Carole Meredith, Ph. D., a professor at the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California at Davis, determined its Croatian roots. Today, Zinfandel is the third-leading wine grape variety in California, with more than 44,400 acres planted, according to The Wine Institute. It is grown in 45 of California’s 58 counties.
Next up in the blend is some peppery Syrah we sourced from the Carneros region, plus some Petite Sirah from Calistoga for tannins, and then a dash of Tempranillo, Primitivo, and Grenache. 🍇
So what is soul fuel? We believe that too often people find themselves burnt out, and that sucks. But we believe burnout comes not from doing too much, but from doing too little of what you love. You know, the shit that makes you smile. The shit that makes you present. The shit that makes you feel invigorated. That's soul fuel. 🪄
The story behind our love for motorcycles begins with Eddie Bratton, a young fella from Fargo, North Dakota. He bought his first motorcycle bike in 1926 at the age of 15 and eventually rode out from Fargo to California, surviving solely on onion sandwiches and potatoes he'd dig up from rural farms. Eddie started at Hap Jones' Indian Motorcycle dealership in San Francisco, tuning bikes and manufacturing custom "Bratton Cams," his rendition for the nation’s top riders looking for an extra boost.
He opened up his shop where Tank sits today, racing and repairing classic bikes until retiring in the early 80s. His custom 1947 Indian Chief still sits in our brick hallway with his trophies lined on the wall behind it. Some of our tasting room staff may say that Eddie still hangs around the back hallways of the garage. True legends never die but don’t worry, he’s not the hell-raiser he used to be.
Nothing but speed and excitement ahead. Go fuel up.
Take 10% off when you buy two or more bottles with code: FILLUP
May 21, 2022 at 2:10 PM
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