Cork has been used to fashion bottle stoppers for thousands of years. Historical records and artifacts show that cork stoppers for wine jugs were used as far back as 500 BC. The early Romans also used cork stoppers that they then coated with pitch to make a watertight seal.
Cork stoppers prevented air from getting into the wine bottle. Over time, people noticed that wine improved with age. This improvement made aged wine more valuable. People began collecting and storing wines instead of just drinking them outright. This made cork stoppers even more necessary.
Unfortunately, cork has one drawback in that it tends to break apart easily. Cork stoppers were only driven in partway for a long time so that they would be easier to pry out of the bottle. Until someone figured out a way to get the cork out easily, stoppers were not a practical way to completely seal a bottle.
If the cork was driven all the way into the bottle, trying to pry it out would result in pieces of cork floating in the wine. Not only is this unattractive and messy, true wine lovers will tell you that it spoils the delicate flavors of the wine. To truly make it feasible to properly collect...