Three types of wine corks and stoppers

 

I looked at these three 'corks' tken out of bottles at a meeting of the Central London Wine Society. What were they?

Members of the public tend to use the word cork for any kind of bottle stopper. Some people don't know there is any difference. Others know there is a difference but cannot identify real cork.

 The top cork stopper is the kind used for Champagne and sparkling wine. It has a broad top to withstand pressure from the bubbles below.

The middle 'cork', or rather a stopper, is a synthetic. Advantages, cheaper, and can be reused.

Any disadvantages? Not supporting the Portuguese wine industry, jobs and growing of attractive, traditional cork trees.

The lowest cork in my photograph has holes or bubbles. That is how you know it is made from real cork.

Composite cork is made up of fragments of cork, like chipboard. One advantage is that they can be sterilised which reduces the risk of cork taint.

They are also cheaper to make and sell for less so they are easiest to sell.

Diam is a maker of cork closures.

Any disadvantage?  The non traditional stoppers fit tight so they can be harder to get out of the bottle.

Diam-cork.com

Screw caps are convenient. Quick and easy to remove by the consumer. No need of a corkscrew.

Even if every bottle produced this year, or next, had screw caps, cork stoppers would still be around, needing corkscrews. Why? Because, if you have very old bottles in storage, they will have cork closures.

Corks are prestigious, so they are often used for the more expensive wines.