from the vine
put a cork in it

Everyone recognizes cork as the main stopper of wine bottles, but did you ever wonder exactly how and why it came to be so widely used in this capacity?

Think all the way back thousands of years ago to the Egyptians. They started the trend which was then carried on by the Ancient Greeks who also used it for fishing buoys, sandals and stoppers for wine and olive oil.

It wasn’t until the 1600’s that cork became used more widespread as a wine stopper. At the time, wooden stoppers wrapped in olive oilsoaked hemp traditionally plugged sparkling wine. However these stoppers popped out more often than they stayed in, so French monk Dom Pérignon replaced these so-so stoppers for cork stoppers and a tradition was born. Pérignon must have known that cork was very elastic and practically impermeable, so it prevents too much oxygen from getting to, and spoiling wine.

Cork comes from naturally enough, the cork tree, or Quercus Suber. Cork trees grow in Spain and Portugal and they can grow to be very old, as old as 170 years old. The older the tree the more cork it produces, so these trees are tended to very carefully.

Next time you open a bottle of wine, take a close look at the cork and look for these traits. Many corks are marked with the place where they are made, as well as the winery the wine comes from. A narrow and misshapen cork may indicate it has been in the bottle a while. If you notice small crystals around the cork, relax it’s not shards of glass. It is tartrates, a harmless substance sometimes found in wine.

A relatively new trend in bottle stoppers is plastic corks and screw tops. The plastic cork may come out cleaner than a cork stopper, but is not the best option for wine that needs to be stored for any length of time. Although cork is impermeable it does allow for some exchange of air, aiding in the maturation process of wine. Plastic corks are best used for wines meant to be consumed
quickly.

The same goes for screw tops. They have the advantage of convenience, especially if planning to open and close the bottle several times. At a lawn concert for example, you can screw the top back on to avoid spillage.

It is hard to predict where all this is going but traditional corks have history on their side. Cork also has the added value of being environmental friendly. The recycling of cork stoppers is seen most particularly in Australia, but is beginning to take hold elsewhere. While recycled cork is never reused to manufacture cork wine stoppers, there are numerous other alternative applications.

But first and foremost, when a person thinks of cork, a delicious bottle of wine is what comes to mind before all else, and I for one hope it stays that way