The average wine lover removes a cork without ever really placing any thought into the cork and what purpose it serves. Most everyone knows that bottles using corks usually contain finer wines than those that have screw on caps, but many question why vineyards opt for the cork. It did not take long for the early makers of wine to discover that the air around the wine would spoil it quicker and that to store it long term a way to keep air away was necessary.
Many attribute Dom Perignon, the Benedictine monk, as being the first to use cork to seal off the bottles of wine made in his monastery. From there the first cork stopper factory opened approximately in 1750 in Spain. Cork has been used ever since on the finest wines to get the best seal possible to protect the wine that is inside the bottle. Of course newer technology may be on its way to replacing cork for an ever better seal. Cork is prone to mold and mildew but synthetic corks are being developed that will resist these problems and still seal perfectly. Of course whether real cork or synthetic whenever a connoisseur uses their corkscrew and other wine accessories to enjoy a bottle maybe they will think a little more about the cork in the bottle.
a Rhino Wine Gear Blog
