Do you ever wonder where the cork stoppers came from?

The cork stoppers generally were used to tap the bottles of champagne or wine. Recently they have been substituted with synthetic stoppers, less romantic but much more sustainable.

But do you ever wonder where the cork stoppers came from?

It's a very long story that begins al least 30/35 years before the real creation of the stopper.

Infact a plants of cork needs to grow about 25 years in order to produce a good quality bark. In fact, the cork woods will come into production after 15/20 years, but the first is the one that is removed, the so-called male cork, is of poor quality.

The bark grows after 9-12 years, reaching a thickness of about 5 centimeters without the irregularities and defects of the first cycle. This is the right time for decorticating, hand-made operation to avoid damage caused by decortication.

Decortication is the first stage, one of the most delicate. Only remove the hood, leaving the following layers intact so as not to compromise the regrowth. The operation takes place rigorously by hand and just the help of an hatchet.

The pieces of barks, after boiling, are pressed, stretched and submitted to a first selection.

It's time of the drilling, the crucial phase: there are choices of the best parts of the cork to "pull out" the caps from the pieces of bark.

Finally, they must be polished to remove any little imperfection and they will be ready to seal the excellent wine or champagne.