Sustainable Business

Reds, whites run green

Couple's shop reflects focus on sustainable, organic winemaking

By Brooke Myers

LocalNewsDaily.com, Aug 8, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jonathan House / Pamplin Media Group

Darryl Joannides, and his wife, Sarah, are wine connoisseurs and the owners of Cork, a store built from recycled materials that carries wines from small producers who use Earth-friendly methods.

They’ve lived and traveled all over Europe, but when Darryl and Sarah Joannides decided to construct a “green” wine shop, using recycled building materials and offering wines from predominantly sustainable and organic growers, they looked no further than Northeast Alberta Street.

Although their shop, Cork, is constructed from the old, entering the large, streamlined shop feels anything but.

The temperature is the first thing you notice. It has a futuristic-feeling controlled climate of 65 degrees – at this temperature red wines need to be warmed only slightly and whites chilled just briefly for optimal drinking, so it’s the perfect compromise and immediately makes you feel as if you’ve entered a real wine cellar.

The Joannideses, who owned the popular Sellwood Italian restaurant Assaggio from 1995 until last year, are food and wine connoisseurs who have spent ample time studying in Italy and even working in vineyards.

They also are devoted to ecologically friendly building in their personal life. Their home recently was featured in Oregon Home’s Green Living magazine for its devotion to sustainable materials such as Rastra, a product made from recycled polystyrene (think takeout containers) that’s turned into building material.

Cork, which opened May 16, is constructed from remnants of the paint warehouse that previously occupied the space, along with other recycled materials, many from the ReBuilding Center on North Mississippi Avenue. The walls are decorated in neutral tones with VOC- (volatile organic compound) free paints.

A lovely tasting room, available for private functions, consists of a long picnic-style table Darryl Joannides constructed from recycled old-growth Douglas fir and cork flooring (the tasting bar also is made from cork, as are the store’s business cards).

Cork’s wines are arranged in two sections. There’s the cellar, which is organized by region, and the main body of the store, which is conveniently – and unusually – divided by price.

You can decide how much you want to spend, be it $10, $20, $30, or under, and then browse wines from all over the world in your desired price range.

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