The muselet

When Dom Pérignon discovered the way to make the wine of Champagne sparkle, the bottles were corked with pieces of wood with oil-sponged cloth, and then plunged in wax. They discovered very quickly that it was not sufficient to sustain the pressure of the wine and avoid the bottles to leak. They then had the idea of using corks with cords to block for them to resists the natural pressure if the gas.

For more safety, certain traders supplemented this tying up with one or two twisted wire of iron, the installation of the wire being done using a grip shears. But this metal fixing presented difficulties to emerge the bottles, and it was necessary to use a special grip, or a small hook to cut the wire.

To facilitate the clearing of the bottles without needing for a grip or a hook, and especially without being wounded, one had then the idea to make a small ring on the wire be tied up. This small ring was sometimes provided with a lead pastille on which was engraved word " CHAMPAGNE " or the name of the trader. But the installation of these strings and iron wire was long and painful. One thus undertook to improve the wire to be tied up by performing it.

A ancestor?

The muselet is now old 153 years. Invented by Adolphe Jacqueson in 1844, it celebrated in 1994 its 150 years with Epernay, the capital of Champagne.

From now on, out of Champagne, the muselets are used as weapons marketing. Indeed, the traders have personalized for a few years their muselets. Driven by fashion, the majority of the marks have from now on their clean muselets. The muselet thus passed to the posterity of simple technical tools to a collector item.

The texts and photographs are gracefully provided by Valentin