Wine stoppers
From Floor Coverings
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What Are Wine-Stoppers?
What are wine stoppers made of?
They are little pieces of cork or other materials shaped in a certain way and placed in the neck of a wine bottle to seal it. Cork ones are used in the vineyards and fancy ones that are used when the bottle is opened and the balance of wine left is to be saved for later, can be purchased practically everywhere. A lot of wine is opened and then used until it's done, in one sitting. If you have a special wine that you want to make a few toasts with, then one of these "permanent" wine stoppers may be just the ticket. Corks tend to get bitty and drop pieces into the wine if they are reused.
Are wine stoppers made from the same cork as flooring?
They can be made from the original cork, which is a renewable resource coming from cork oak trees. For the latter, bark is harvested from the tree and it grows back. Wine-stoppers can also be made from ceramic or colored glass. Usually, other than cork wine-stoppers have a metal structure around them so the user can pry it out of the wine bottle neck, and it can also be seated around the neck when it's inserted back in, in order to make a tight seal. Glass wine-stoppers are often found at craft fairs or in wine stores. They can also be ordered online. Many people, when traveling overseas, like to pick up a couple of fancy wine-stoppers as souvenirs. The wine-stoppers can be very simple or quite complex, and some are decorated with the country insignia or reminder of where they were purchased. Wine-stoppers made by mixing colored glass (and these can be found in Italy) are gorgeous and can be expensive, because it takes a while longer to make these beauties than it does to just stick punch out a cork wine-stopper. Some sets of wine stoppers are available with all kinds of decorations on top of them. The wine country in California (both North and Central Coast), are good regions to look for collectible wine-stoppers.
Are wine stoppers collectable?
Amongst wine lovers, these wine-stoppers are very collectible. Even the simplest of corks from bottles produced all over the world can be arranged in a frame and displayed in your home bar or wine cellar. Corks have also been used to create tabletops and many other unique items. Many home bar owners display these types of wine stoppers in a lighted case, hung on the wall at the back of their bar. Wine-stoppers make a perfect gift for a wine lover. People who like to hunt for antiques, and also love wine, may browse for old wine-stoppers with a history. It's the mystery of finding out just where they came from originally, that keeps antiquing for wine stoppers so interesting.
