"What's the name of champagne wire?" - This question is encountered in scanwords and modern intelligent television programs. Only tasters, bartenders, or sellers at the liquor store will answer this question. Let's take a closer look at this thing called the Muse.
The need for new technology
For the first time, winemakers at House Perignon in the 17th century, while experimenting with the processes of wine fermentation, thought about a device for holding corks in a bottle. Later, when the method of champagne champagne improved, there was an urgent need to maintain the pristine quality of a new type of alcohol - wine, saturated with carbon dioxide. The problem was that if the cork is held in the bottle of table wine for the required amount of time, then in the sparkling pores of the gas it is pushed out with a characteristic sound.
Ineffective methods
The first bottles with sparkling wines were corked with a piece of wood and wax, but this method did not bring any results. A little later, the idea came up to wrap the cork with a strong rope, more often the design was supplemented with steel wire, which did not cause interest from buyers: it was extremely difficult to open a bottle without nippers or scissors.
What is the name of the wire from champagne
In 1844, a winemaker from France, Adolphe Jackson received the right to patent an improved design of a mousle consisting of steel wire.
Jackson gave the wire on a bottle of champagne a strange name, in French it means "put on a muzzle." Residents of Russia who do not speak a foreign language perceive this word with notes of a certain charm. If you ask the Russian bartender about the name of the wire from champagne, he will romantically answer with a French accent: "Muse."
Jackson patented the muselet and plaque (plate made of durable material), which protects dilapidated corks from deformation. Otherwise, if an incision from a metal bridle appears on the cork, the seal is broken and gas from the bottle comes out.
Thanks to such a breakthrough, winemakers sold sparkling wines and were confident in the safety of alcohol in a bottle. Even then, popular wine houses and factories tried to give a unique design to collectible alcohol: the plaque from the musical became a canvas for talented artists.
Industrial production
In 1855, the Frenchman Nikas Ptizhan invented the first machine for the production of museles, and in 1880 industrial production began. In 1905, a ring appeared in the frame structure, with it the need to open the bottle with scissors or special forceps disappeared. In a classic champagne bottle, the ring on the musical must be turned 6 times.
The maker of the muzele assumes great responsibility: the safety of sparkling wine or champagne in a bottle depends on thorough accuracy in the production mechanism. Muselet is made of high-strength steel wire 0.7-0.8 mm thick.
Winery owners buy champagne and sparkling wine museums from trusted suppliers. Most wine houses are equipped with automatic machines that push the frame onto the cork and fix the mousel on the neck of the bottle. For aesthetics, manufacturers cover the top of the bottle with decorative foil.
Wire length
It is widely believed that the standard length of the myuzle (wire necessary for the manufacture) is 52 cm. This conjecture is difficult to confirm or refute. Most likely, such a length for the manufacture of the frame was necessary only for the first production machine. Today, with the advent of new technologies and mechanisms in production, the length of the museul varies from 50 to 60 cm.
French legend
There is a legend in the history of the invention of the Museulle, to which Josephine Clicquot, who is involved, is a woman from high society and the heiress of the winemaking dynasty. At the next preparation for tasting her elite champagne, she noticed that the cork was about to pop out of the bottle and ruin the solemnity of the ceremony. She had no choice but to pull the wire out of the corset and screw it with a cork to the neck of the bottle. As it turned out later, the length of the wire was 52 cm, which subsequently turned out to be the standard long musical for champagne and sparkling wines.
Plaque for collectors and muslemania
A plaque is not only a metal cap on a cork that performs the function of protecting against deformation, but also a collectible:
Wine houses with a high reputation put a unique picture on a plaque, sometimes it comes to a whole work of art. Often collectors of high-end alcohol give hundreds of thousands of dollars not for the contents of the bottle, but for what is shown on the small aluminum part from the muselet.
Choosing the next topics for design, manufacturers rely on the history of the country, public holidays or significant events. For example, in France, one of the producers of alcohol produced plaques dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc. By the way, to replenish the collection it is not necessary to buy a bottle of champagne. Thousands of collectors gather in Majori Square in Madrid and exchange not only plaques, but also coins, stamps, and precious items.
For collectors of plaques albums, catalogs and tablets are issued, the price of the latter sometimes reaches tens of thousands of dollars. Not surprisingly, only affluent businessmen can afford such an occupation.
An interesting fact: there are people on the planet who not only know the name of champagne wire, but can boast of an interesting hobby. The muselet in the hands of craftsmen turns into a decorative product, jewelry or decor item.