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Which wines do you close with glass stoppers?
How a wine bottle is sealed influences the maturation and shelf life of the wine after bottling. The decisive factor is how much air (and thus oxygen, which reacts with the sensitive aromatic substances in the wine) can penetrate the bottle through the closure. The more the wine is exposed to oxygen, the faster it matures - or in the negative case, degenerates.
The glass stopper is an innovative and practical way to close a wine bottle. The best known is the "Vinolok", developed by the German company Alcoa. This glass stopper has the shape of a squat mushroom and carries a thin ring made of a special plastic under the flat "umbrella", which rests on the neck of the bottle and seals the bottle airtight and liquid-tight. Above this actual closure - similar to corks - an aluminium cap is attached to secure it, which is removed when the bottle is opened for the first time.
In this way, the glass stopper is tight and extremely durable, can be opened and - a very big advantage - closed again without any tools and offers one hundred percent protection against cork taint. Since scientists are increasingly recognising that the air remaining in the bottle after bottling is sufficient for the further maturation of the wine, glass stoppers are also suitable for wines in need of maturation without hesitation. In practice, however, this type of closure is (still) used relatively rarely, as glass stoppers are very expensive. Producers who close their wines with glass stoppers can therefore distinguish themselves in a certain way.