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Corks

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Maria Samms

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Corks

by Maria Samms » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:34 pm

Hello All,

I have a question regarding corks. I noticed that in some bottles of wine, the corks come out easily, while in others, it takes TONS of brut force to get it out (I use an ordinary wine key). Why is this? I know that most new world younger wine corks are coated with silcone. Is this a fairly recent pratice? Do some countries not use silcone coated corks?
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David M. Bueker

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Re: Corks

by David M. Bueker » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:42 pm

Maria,

If you can find anything about corks that is standard practice then call the papers. Indeed not all corks are coated. Also wine residue (from bottling or mistreatment) can sometimes "glue" a cork to the bottle, making it nearly impossible to extract. There's a million other issues (exact cork diameter, exact bottle opening diameter...).
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Cynthia Wenslow

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Re: Corks

by Cynthia Wenslow » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:31 pm

What David said.

On a related note, if you are interested in reading a fascinating work on cork and non-cork closures with some history thrown in, I highly recommend
To Cork or Not To Cork, by George M. Taber. Extremely interesting, and as a special bonus, our own Dr. Stuart Yaniger is included!

(Disclosure: WLDG will get a minuscule contribution if anyone orders the book from that link.)
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Victorwine

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Re: Corks

by Victorwine » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:42 pm

Hi Maria,
Because natural cork comes from a living thing and has a cell-like structure (one cork could consist of 800 million cells), the cells on the outside surface act like little suction-cups. How a bottle of wine is treated and stored, and depending upon the quality and function of the natural cork will determine what kind of “grip” or “hold” the cork has on the inside of the glass bottle.

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Covert

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Re: Corks

by Covert » Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:02 pm

Yes, diameter variartion is a major factor. After drinking two bottles of 1995 Branaire at a San Diego restaurant, on back-to-back evenings, I couldn't wait to get back home to see if I could find some. Found a case, only one case. All the corks were of a "plug" fit rather than a "press" fit, and came out with no effort. All the bottles were oxidized. Still lamenting. Loved that wine.
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Justin S

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Re: Corks

by Justin S » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:39 pm

I would have to imagine that some bottle neck variation is not unheard of either.
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Victorwine

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Re: Corks

by Victorwine » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:55 am

Natural cork has an outstanding characteristic of compression and recovery. Today, I think both the cork and glass manufactures can hold dimensions to a reasonable tolerance. Besides a little out of “roundness” or “bent” condition of the opening or neck of the bottle could be “taken up” by the cork (the cork could take the shape of the inside of the neck of the bottle).

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Steve Slatcher

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Re: Corks

by Steve Slatcher » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:24 am

I'd imagine corks that were "plug fit" on removal got that way by losing their elasticity rather than due to the size they were cut to before insertion.

Cork BTW has the unusual, if not unique, property of having a negative Poisson's ratio. IOW if you squeeze cork in one dimension the other dimensions reduce too. That makes corks easier to insert (and extract) than they otherwise would be. And after insertion, when the force pushing them is is removed, the diameter increases to make a good seal.
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Dale Williams

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Re: Corks

by Dale Williams » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:19 pm

Others with more scientific bent have offered good "why" answers.

Just out of curiosity, by "normal wine key" do you mean a waiter's type corkscrew? If you find some corks difficult, I'd suggest trying the Pulltap type. A good quality waiters corkscrew with a teflon worm and a hinged lever. The later lets you keep pressure straight up, by pulling in 2 stages. I've got expensive Laguioles, etc that don't work near as well. I prefer to Screwpulls.
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Mark Lipton

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Re: Corks

by Mark Lipton » Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:02 pm

Dale Williams wrote:Others with more scientific bent have offered good "why" answers.

Just out of curiosity, by "normal wine key" do you mean a waiter's type corkscrew? If you find some corks difficult, I'd suggest trying the Pulltap type. A good quality waiters corkscrew with a teflon worm and a hinged lever. The later lets you keep pressure straight up, by pulling in 2 stages. I've got expensive Laguioles, etc that don't work near as well. I prefer to Screwpulls.


I'll second that. I got a Pulltap for Christmas and I love it. If I were pulling corks on a dozen or more bottles, I'd use our Screwpull, but for a few bottles I'll take the Pulltap.

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