12. The corking and fitting the wire muzzle

The corkplays an absolutely fundamental role as it is the guardian of the wine's quality. The corking must be made easy and regular in order to ensure a perfect air seal. The uncorking must take place without effort but still with a certain restraint. Once the cork comes out of the bottle opening, it must be mushroom shaped. In order to combine all of these qualities, the Champagne Houses use cork (tree bark) as the unique material for manufacturing their corks.

The corkstopper must not exceed a height of 48 mm, a diameter of 31 mm and a breaking force of 25 kg F. It comprises two parts. The upper part is called a "manche" (handle) and is made of agglomerated cork. The lower part, in contact with the wine (known as "miroir" - mirror of the cork) consists of 1, 2 or 3 discs (6 mm wide) of natural, full and supple cork.

      The cork must be stamped with the "Champagne" appellation (as well as the vintage) on the perimeter of the part inserted in the bottle opening. Frequently, either the name of the producer or a small five-pointed star with a long tail can be marked under it. This is either to celebrate the "comet wine" (named after the comet, which appeared in 1811 during a particularly abundant harvest) or to celebrate Christmas, a period eminently favourable for enjoying the sparkling wines of Champagne.

      Each cork is unique as cork is a natural product, but it can also cause a defect that occasionally occurs with sparkling Champagne: the "cork taste". Nothing seems able to prevent this in certain cuvées, except checking and validating the batches after having statistically controlled them. Nonetheless, today's technology lets us aspire to the total eradication of this problem.

The Gortex company has recently undertaken a study entitled the "Preserver of sensorial deviations". It consists of a piece of silicone, installed on the side of the both cork in contact with the wine, which would avoid both cork tastes and leaking bottles. Although still at the research stage, this project gives great hope for the future.

      In order to soften the suberin (a resinous material in the cork sensitive to heat), the dipping containers have gradually been abandoned in favour of re-heating and softening systems either warm air currents or a brief period in a micro-wave oven: this is known as "bouchage à sec" (dry corking).

The softened corks are pushed into place through compression (the diameter is reduced to about 17 mm), driven halfway into the bottleneck, then crushed into a mushroom shape, ready to be fitted with the wire muzzle.

The wire muzzle is made up of a metal wire "cage" and metal cap, marked with the producer's name. Placed on the cork, it is then tightened to prevent it flying out as a result of the pressure. The metal caps protect he cork from the wire muzzle, while also having a secondary function of emphasizing the House brand image as they are frequently decorated.       The wire muzzle is distributed and automatically fitted by a pneumatic machine known as a "museleteuse" (a wire muzzle fitting machine).