The cork oak, quercus suber, is the most highly regarded closure used in wine bottles. The exact period when wine markers started using cork is but a mystery. One can only hypothesize that it was utilized even before the radical changes in the European climate. The origins and early uses of cork feature a mixture of wives-tale and unrecorded history. The main source of cork is Catalonia. It is thought that the monks of the Benedictine monastery of Hautvillers, in Champagne region used these corks as stopper of the wine flasks they carry as they went about their various traveling.
Prior from settling corks as the most efficient closure to be used in wines, people from long and far tried various methods of sealing their wine jugs and bottles. Flasks and bottles were presumably been stoppered with scrap of oily cloth or sealed with pitch.
Corks are made from bark of the cork oak that is stripped from a mature plant. The corks are then cut into sections, boiled and then left to mature at doors. They are shaped and crafted by hand to fit perfectly wine bottle openings. It is very important that corks be cleaned and trimmed so that the markings of the grain are removed. Moreover, before any cork can be used for wines, it must be adequately sterilized.
Certain wines utilized special types of corks, like Champagne and Sparkling wines. The corks they use comprise of multiple layers. The finest quality of cork is that one that makes contact with the liquid inside.
Corks also vary is sizes depending on the purpose of the wine-maker for the wine. Wines intended for long-term maturation will have corks that are usually 2 inches long and hand-cut. There is also a “short cut” cork that measures about 1 ¼ inches. Full-bodied red wines like Burgundy and Bordeaux are usually sealed by corks 7/8 inch.
There is a growing popularity with the use of “stopper corks” which are corks with metal or plastic top. More often too, labels and trademarks of the vineyards are placed on the corks. In Champagne, the brand is on the base of the cork, well sometimes on its side. For more information about wines, explore http://vino.com.