Beer bottle sealed with a cork and muselet

A ''muselet'' () is a wire cage that fits over the cork of a bottle of

champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cer ...

to prevent the cork from emerging under the pressure of the carbonated contents. It derives its name from the French ''museler,'' to muzzle. The muselet often has a metal cap incorporated in the design which may show the drink maker's emblem. They are normally covered by a metal foil envelope. Muselets are also known as wirehoods or Champagne wires.

History

When champagne was first produced the pressure of the sparkling wine was maintained by wooden plugs sealed with oil-cloth and wax. This method proved inconsistent either from leaking or blowing out of the stopper and a method of restraining the corks using cord was developed. In 1844,

Adolphe Jacquesson ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...

invented the more secure method involving steel wire, however the early muselets were not easy to install and proved somewhat inconvenient to open. Further developments led to the modern muselet which is made of steel wire twisted to add strength and with a small loop of wire twisted into the lower ring which can be untwisted to release the pressure of the muselet and give access to the cork. Cortellazzi (1952) of

Marmirolo Marmirolo (Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about northwest of Mantua. Its territory, which is totally plain as part of the Pianura Padana, is cr ...

were the first to produce muselets (or wirehoods) in Italy, the brilliant idea of A. Jacquesson who resolved once and for all the problem of bottling sparkling wines: losing valuable effervescence through the cork. The Cortellazzi brothers (

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play '' Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. ...

and Evangelista), owners of an artisan shop that had started its business in

iron making Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from o ...

, the brothers later specialised in the manufacture of wirehoods for

Spumante Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne ...

sparkling wine bottles Sparkling may refer to: Beverages * Sparkling apple cider * Sparkling water * Sparkling wine Biology * Sparkling enope squid, a squid species * Sparkling gourami, a fish species * Sparkling violetear, a hummingbird species See also * Spark (d ...

thanks to their invention of the first machine that produces these components out of a single

metal wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...

Modern muselets

Traditionally, muselets require six half-turns to open. Muselets are now machine-made in millions. A modern development has seen the production of personalized caps within the muselet, which display the emblems or name of the manufacturer. These may vary in colour and design from year to year and between different manufacturers. This has stimulated a market for the collection of these caps.

References

External links

* {{wines Wine packaging and storage Bottles Packaging Seals (mechanical)