Wine stoppers (with a digression on cork taint)

[robert_jones]

The Romans sometimes stored wine in bottles, using a layer of olive oil floated on top to protect it from the air. However, until the 17th century, the near universal way of storing and transporting wine was in barrels (or amphorae). Once a barrel was opened (tapped), it would need to be drunk fairly swiftly, as there was then no way of

Comments

[emperor]

I don't think I've ever been sure of a corked bottle; I suspect this means I've marked a few wines as "dreadful" that were in fact corked, but didn't know that the fault was being corked.