A wine stopper made from the bark of the cork oak, a type of oak tree. It tends to be used more for high-quality wines. In recent years, screw caps and synthetic corks have become more common, but natural cork stoppers remain popular among wine lovers.
The history of cork stoppers is long, dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, but they didn't really come into use until around the 17th century. It is said that cork stoppers were adopted when wine, which had previously been sold in barrels, began to be transferred to bottles for sale.
Compared to screwcaps, which are extremely airtight, cork stoppers are said to allow a small amount of air to pass through, and some producers believe that the oxygen contained in that small amount of air helps the wine to age.
However, there is also data showing that wines with screw caps can still age, so the debate as to whether corks are really essential for wine aging has yet to be resolved.
Another drawback of natural cork stoppers is that they can develop cork taint (cork odor), which can lead to defective products. According to one theory, about 3% of wines with cork stoppers are cork tainted. As cork manufacturers improve their technology, this figure is on the decline, but it seems quite difficult to reduce it to zero.
By the way, cork loses its elasticity when it dries out, so if you want to store corked wine for a long time, make sure to store the bottle on its side.
