Wine stoppers are used after a bottle of wine has been opened but not finished so that the wine can stay as fresh as possible until it is finally drunk. These temporary wine stoppers come in all sorts of materials, from cork to rubber to metal. Some are mechanically based stoppers with clamps while others simply cork the wine for a short time with a funny ornament on their tops. Caring for these wine stoppers properly helps them last for an extended period of time.
Cork Wine Stoppers
As wine is stopped up with corks, a wine stopper made of cork with an ornament on top--ranging from a doorknob to a favorite football team's logo--seems like a perfect choice. While these stoppers rarely create a vacuum seal, they will keep an opened bottle of wine drinkable for at least a couple of days. These cork stoppers also absorb all the wine that touches them, which inevitable, but also means they need to be cleaned every time they are used. Soaking the cork wine stoppers in soapy warm water for about five minutes and then allowing them to dry is a good way to clean them so that wine from one bottle the stoppers were used on doesn't taint the flavor of another bottle.
Metal Wine Stoppers
Metal wine stoppers are made out of either aluminum or stainless steel. They are a stylish, sleek way to preserve a bottle and many have O-rings of rubber built into the stopper to help create a seal against the glass of the bottle and make it last a little longer. These seals are not air tight and cannot keep the wine from leaking out of the bottle itself but will keep a lot of air from getting in and "turning" the wine more quickly. These wine stoppers are durable but are best cleaned in the sink with soap and a sponge as opposed to the dishwasher, where it can suffer water damage. It's important to dry these wine stoppers well, as excess water is never good for any metal.
Rubber Wine Stoppers
Rubber wine stoppers come in all shapes and sizes and range from expensive to inexpensive. Some simply work like corks, squeezing into the top of the wine bottle, while other more expensive ones, will lock the rubber stopper into the bottle by making it expand with a latch, clamping it into place. These rubber stoppers can be washed in the dishwasher, though the heat from the dishwasher itself may effect the rubber over time. It's better to wash these wine stoppers by hand if possible and considering they are small and usually not very dirty, shouldn't be difficult. However, make sure they are dried off entirely, as excess water droplets can remain in the folds of the rubber and make it begin to smell, which doesn't go well with any wine.
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