Wine bottle sealing development

According to legend, in the 5th century BC, the Greeks began to stuff the jug with oak stoppers, but the oak stoppers did not become mainstream. The wine bottles were often sealed with wax paint or plaster. In the middle of the 17th century, prior to the prevalence of cork stoppers, glass stoppers were used to stopper wine bottles. Every time they drank, they had no choice but to smash the bottles. In 1861, a bottle opener that could only get into oak to remove the cork was invented, and the cork was finally on the stage of history.

The most suitable for making cork is pine wood, which has the features of low density, good elasticity, high stretchability, impermeability, resistance to spoilage, resistance to decomposition, resistance to deterioration, etc. It can keep the quality of wine unchanged . The average length of the cork stopper used in wines of general grade is about 3.5 cm to about 5 cm, and the cork stoppers used in more excellent wines are more than 5 cm in length. Longer cork stoppers are used for high-quality wines, but wines with long cork stoppers are not guaranteed to be high quality wines.

Once the cork is damp, it is perishable. Especially during the long transport process, the wine bottle breaks, the exuded liquor will wet other wines, and the cork will get damp, and cork stoppers will hardly protect the wine at this time. The role. If you put the bottle upright, there will be a space between the wine liquid and the stopper. Dry cork will be affected by thermal expansion and contraction. In winter, the cork shrinks, causing mold in the air to enter the cork, causing the cork to deteriorate and produce a lot of bacteria and then enter the wine, causing the quality of the wine to be destroyed. .

The replacement for the cork is a screw cap. In 1889, the capping was invented in the United Kingdom. It was originally used in whisky and was later targeted at the drawbacks caused by cork closure. In 1959, a French company began to use caps to encapsulate wine. At that time, it did not arouse people's interest. However, this innovative move attracted the attention of Australian Peter Wall, who had always hoped that the wine he produced would remain fresh and zero-pollution when bottling. He introduced it boldly in 1970. Capping technology has brought a revolution to the wine industry. Until now, most of the caps used in the market are New World wines, such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Chile and Argentina.

The screw cap used for wine is different from the screw cap for general beverages. This special screw cap has elastic cushions and tin foils inside, and the surface is covered with tens of thousands of vent holes. Because of this, it costs more than cork. The plug is still high. Since the screw cap does not have the problem of dry deformation, the wine with the screw cap can also be placed without lying. This is a complete subversion of the old world wine habits.

In 1998, the famous Plumpjack Winery in the Napa Valley of the United States set off a revolutionary reform storm. They resolutely decided to replace half of the Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 package with a capacity of 150 boxes per year. In order to show that this is a cost-conscious approach, the owner also deliberately hangs the cork on the bottle. This move was an explosive news, because at that time there wasn't a famous market in the US that used a screw cap. The Plumperjack owner used a trick to tell people that they didn't change the screw cap to save costs, but Fundamentally, we consider the quality of preserved liquor. Their wines have achieved unprecedented success, and since then they have gained consumer recognition in the US market.

This historical match between the cork stopper and the cap is only gradual if it is time to evolve. If you still like to use the sophisticated and delicate opener, listen to the humming sound of the cork, only cork can Help you. But in fact, screw cap can bring you a lot of new fun, only to find you slowly.

In addition, sometimes you will find that the bottle opener inserted into a rubber plug, what is the rubber plug? There was a time when, in order to solve the problem of perishable cork stoppers, a rubber plug made of a mixture of resin and plastic was invented, which is generally used for new wines that do not have to age. The problem of rubber plugs is lack of elasticity, poor sealing, and low-feeling. Therefore, it eventually failed to set off any storms. There are still some new wines that are suitable for timely drinking.