Like many of Champagne’s inventions, the infamous Dom Pérignon has tried to take all the credit for being the first to “muzzle” champagne! The term “muselet” is derived from the French word “museler”, which means “to muzzle”, as the wire cage effectively fixes the cork into the lip of the bottle. His use of these muzzles was in a different context however, as ,he worked exclusively with still wines. It is said that after seeing the closures on the gourds carried by monks returning from Santiago de Compostela in Spain, he had the idea to replace the original Champagne stoppers, which were wooden bungs wrapped in oil-soaked hemp and sealed with wax and a cork stopper.
However, it was only after 1728 when sparkling wines were shipped in bottles, that the securing of the stopper only became an issue. At first, the stopper was secured to the bottle with string, but in 1844, Adolphe Jacquesson filed a patent for a method that involved inserting a piece of tinplate between the cork and its ties to balance the forces and prevent recoulage. The first capsule was created!
Patent n°412 registered on November 15th, 1844 by Adolphe Jacquesson for improvements in the apparatus and processes for corking bottles (Source: INPI archives).
Around 1855, Nicaise Petitjean patented a string-tying machine (also known as a cheval de bois) with a lever action that increased the closure force tenfold, allowing the use of reinforced ties, and made the stopper more secure. At the time,
This Article was originally published on Champagne Every Day
