The natural wine cork is unsurpassed as a wine closure. Among its many valued properties are its lightness, impermeability to liquids, resistance to wear, rot and temperature extremes and its renowned compressibility.

The secret to cork’s performance is its unique cell structure, which technology cannot replicate. Cork consists of a honeycomb of tiny cells made from suberin, a complex fatty acid, and filled with an air-like gas. There are on average about 40 million cells per cubic centimetre of cork or around 800 million cells in a single wine cork.

Cork's cell-like structure makes it easy to compress and so less liable to damage from corking machines. Amazingly, the cork is capable of being compressed to about half its width without losing any flexibility and it is the only solid that can be compressed in one dimension without increasing in another dimension.

The cushion-like cork cells also display what is known as elastic memory. When compressed they constantly try to return to their original size, thus maintaining a tight seal. This means the cork exerts a very even pressure against the surface of the bottle neck and can compensate for imperfections in the bottle.

Being elastic, cork is also more tolerant than other materials of changes to temperature and pressure.

In addition to these characteristics, cork's lightness and chemical inertness make it ideally suited as a wine closure. Cork resists moisture and can age for long periods without deteriorating.

Recent research by the University of Bordeaux has confirmed that natural cork allows a tiny amount of oxygen to permeate into the wine bottle after it has been sealed. This tiny amount of oxygen has an important and beneficial impact on the development of the wine in the bottle.

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