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SFMOMA UNCORKED! OFFERS EXCITING PRIZES TO PROMOTE NATURAL WINE CORK RECYCLING

Released: February 01, 2011 ·

From now through March 15, 2011, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is offering visitors a chance to win amazing wine-related experiences while saving our natural resources with the contest SFMOMA Uncorked!

In celebration of SFMOMA’s groundbreaking exhibition How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now, on view through April 17, SFMOMA Uncorked! entices visitors to drop off used natural wine corks in the museum’s Haas Atrium with the chance to win monthly prizes. Winners will receive a variety of gifts, all donated by the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, such as tickets to the Artisan Cheese Festival, Passport to Dry Creek Valley and Savor Sonoma Valley. A Grand Prize drawing will be held in March for a Northern California Luxury Wine Adventure, a week-long vacation for two throughout San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma.

This limited-time contest promotion is sponsored by 100% Cork and benefits Cork ReHarvest, organizations dedicated to promoting the use of natural corks to preserve and protect the Mediterranean cork forests rather than environmentally unfriendly plastic corks and metal screw tops. 100% Cork explains, “In addition to preserving wine and allowing it to age properly, natural cork is one of the world’s most sustainable products. It’s biodegradable, recyclable and promotes the stewardship of vast cork oak forests in the Mediterranean Basin. The trees are not harmed or cut down but merely harvested for a portion of their bark every nine years over a 250-year lifespan. In addition to preventing desertification and providing habitat, the cork oak forests offset the carbon from 21 million automobiles every year. By contrast, artificial plastic wine stoppers or screw caps use at least five times more energy per ton to produce before millions of them end up in our landfills and oceans. It may seem like a little thing, but demanding natural cork is something we can all do to help our planet while enjoying the romance and tradition of wine.”         

The Grand Prize

·         A two-night stay at W San Francisco, where a twist on the familiar surprises and the surprisingly new delights; an evening of tasting at Press Club, an urban wine bar; and an SFMOMA membership

·         A two-night stay at Meadowood Napa Valley, the valley’s first luxury resort; a day of wine tasting with their master sommelier Gilles de Chambure; and dinner for two with wine pairings at The Restaurant at Meadowood, prepared by Michelin-rated chef Christopher Kostow

·         A two-night stay at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, the ultimate wine country destination oasis; dinner for two at the award-winning restaurant Santé; and two spa treatments or rounds of golf.

·         Plus, ever wonder where that little piece of cork in your wine bottle came from? Courtesy of our contest partner Cork ReHarvest, you’ll tour a cork facility in Sonoma where you’ll learn why natural cork is the most sustainable and environmentally friendly closure for wine.

About 100% Cork

Contest sponsor 100% Cork is a campaign to educate U.S. wine consumers about the benefits of choosing wine with natural cork stoppers because of cork’s environmental, technical and societal advantages. The campaign seeks to recruit and organize wine consumers to request that winemakers and retailers choose natural cork over artificial stoppers. Please go to 100percentcork.org to learn more about cork and to take the pledge asking retailers to increase their reliance on cork. The campaign is funded by the Portuguese Cork Association and the Cork Quality Council. 

About Cork ReHarvest

Founded in 2008, Cork ReHarvest is a leader in the cork recycling movement in the United States and Canada, helping to collect and recycle some of the billions of natural corks that are produced each year. Equally important is its work to educate the public about the vital importance of preserving and protecting the Mediterranean cork forests. Cork ReHarvest also partners with the food, beverage, and hospitality industries to collect cork at restaurants, hotels, wine bars, and convention and performing arts centers.

About the Exhibition

How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now explores the visual and material culture of wine over the past three decades, offering a fresh way of understanding the contemporary culture of wine and the role that design has played in its transformation. Organized by Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, and developed in close collaboration with interdisciplinary artists/architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, How Wine Became Modern marks the first exhibition to consider modern, global wine culture as an integrated yet expansive and richly textured set of cultural phenomena.

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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter, bring corks to SFMOMA and fill out a form in the Haas Atrium, SFMOMA’s free public space. To be eligible, entries must be received by March 15, 2011. Contest open to adults 21 and older. One entry per person per visit. Monthly drawing will be held on the first business day of each month and Grand Prize drawing will be held at SFMOMA: Now Playing on March 17 between 6 and 9:45 p.m. You need not be present to win. SFMOMA staff and their immediate families are not eligible to win. Prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded.

Support for the SFMOMA Uncorked! contest is provided by 100% Cork.

How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Major support is provided by Riedel. Generous support is provided by Stephanie and Fred Harman, The Jan and Mitsuko Wine and Art Educational Foundation, Helen Hilton Raiser, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, Thomas Weisel, and the Margaret and Angus Wurtele Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Dolly and George Chammas; Bobbie and Mike Wilsey; Architecture + Design Forum; Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council; Istituto Italiano di Cultura, San Francisco; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain and the Embassy of Spain; Consulate General of Spain in San Francisco; The American-Scandinavian Foundation; Consulate General of France in San Francisco; and Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco.

Media sponsor: San Francisco magazine. Lodging and promotional support provided by Meadowood Napa Valley.

 

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Jill Lynch 415.357.4172 jilynch@sfmoma.org
Clara Hatcher Baruth 415.357.4177 chatcher@sfmoma.org
Press Office