A capsule that covers the cork and usually contains an imprint referring to the wine or producer. This capsule is the uppermost part of a film that tightly encloses the neck of the bottle. This protects the cork from drying out, from contamination with bacteria, for example, as well as from infestation by the cork moth and its egg-laying, and also slows down the OTR rate (gas exchange) between the bottle contents and the outside world or the access of oxygen. Last but not least, a decorative purpose is also achieved. The capsule can be made of different materials. The toxic lead caps ule, which used to be called tinfoil capsule (originally a lead-silver alloy), has been banned in winegrowing in the meantime. Today, capsules are made of neutral, non-toxic tin (also known as tinfoil), aluminium, which is much cheaper but not as close to the neck of the bottle, but also, especially for simple wines, of plastics such as PET, polyethylene, PVC or PVDC.
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Roman Horvath MW
Domäne Wachau (Wachau)