People have
been removing corks from wine bottles for hundreds of years now. Don’t
you think that we would have gotten it right by now?
First, though, why cork? Wine needs to be kept inside the bottle, and
air needs to be kept out. If oxygen comes into contact with wine, the
wine will oxidize, and turn bad. Oxidized wines turn brown and have a
sherry-like smell. In ancient times, wine used to come from the winery
in large clay vessels called Amphorae.
Wine was topped with a thin layer of olive oil to keep the air out, but
this did nothing to prevent spilling. Wax soaked cloth was used, but this
was hardly an ideal solution. Technology changed from earthenware to wood,
and barrels were used to store and ship wine. The wine was poured out
into pitchers or decanters and brought to the table, or sold by the measure
by merchants.
Glass was relatively expensive, so the wealthy used their own bottles,
often stamped with their initials, family crest or symbol. They sealed
these bottles with cork, the inner bark of the cork oak, which grew in
Portugal and Spain, dipping the sealed neck of the bottle into wax to
preserve it and to keep out burrowing insects.
In the early 1700s glass-blowing technology improved, and bottles could
be made cheaply and in great quantities. English wine merchants bottled
wines in their shops, sealing them with corks, selling the wine by the
bottle. Fraud was not uncommon, and those with a better reputation were
able to charge a higher price for their wines.
In the 20th Century, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Mouton
Rothschild, changed things in the wine world by insisting that he oversee
the full production of every bottle of his wine. His wine was bottled
at the Chateau, and the cork was branded with the name Mouton, he Baron’s
way of insuring the quality of his wine.
To safely and easily remove the cork, we must begin with a good corkscrew:
it does not have to be expensive to be good, but it must have a good screw.
Look down the corkscrew from the point. The worm, the part that goes into
the cork, must look like it was made from a piece of steel that was wrapped
around a rod, so that you can actually put a slim skewer or a long toothpick
down the middle. This kind of corkscrew will grab the most cork while
putting the least amount of steel into the cork. The type that looks like
it was made from a steel rod that had the groove cut into it will make
dry corks crumble.
Turn the corkscrew until it penetrates the cork to the bottom. This keeps
the cork from breaking in half, leaving part of the cork in the bottle.
Open the lever on the side, hook it onto the lip of the bottle, and pull
the handle up, letting the handle act as a lever.
