Muselet

[1] When champagne was first produced the pressure of the sparkling wine was maintained by wooden plugs sealed with oil-cloth and wax.

In 1844, Adolphe Jacquesson invented the more secure method involving steel wire, however the early muselets were not easy to install and proved somewhat inconvenient to open.

[1] Further developments led to the modern muselet which is made of steel wire twisted to add strength and with a small loop of wire twisted into the lower ring which can be untwisted to release the pressure of the muselet and give access to the cork.

[1] Cortellazzi (1952) of Marmirolo were the first to produce muselets (or wirehoods) in Italy, the brilliant idea of A. Jacquesson who resolved once and for all the problem of bottling sparkling wines: losing valuable effervescence through the cork.

[citation needed] The Cortellazzi brothers (Otello and Evangelista), owners of an artisan shop that had started its business in iron making, the brothers later specialised in the manufacture of wirehoods for Spumante sparkling wine bottles thanks to their invention of the first machine that produces these components out of a single metal wire.