The other day I have had a bottle of wine opened and as a surprise, I found a glass stopper under the foil. I have not come across with this in wine before, and I do open quite a lot of bottles...
To be honest the wine itself was a rather expensive one but I did no expected to find this under the protective capsule. The closure is called Vinolok sometimes Vino-seal. It consists of an inert ring and a glass stopper. It was developed in America at around 2000 and now produced in the Czech Republic by a luxury crystal glass company. It is not cheap, and you need to find compatible bottling equipment to be able to use it, but premium brands tend to like the idea of reducing the possibility of spoilt products. Not to mention that you can make it your own, individualize it. It can be coloured, shaped, and encrusted with rhinestones. Hello, bling!
It is claimed to prevent oxidisation or TCA taint as it creates an airtight seal. No tools required to open it, allegedly. Well, my quite capable hubby wrestled with it for a minute or two, before managing to extract the crystal crown. Obviously, you can re-open and re-close the bottle multiple times. Not like we had any intention to do so, but it did look very cool and elegant. Neat, no crumbling, snapping corks and the wine was as fresh as the mountain dew. What is not to like!
Photographs by The Tannin Addict.