Wine and cork are two products that go hand in hand for a long time. The proof of this is the amphora of the 1st century BC, found in Ephesus: it was not only sealed with a cork, but still contained wine. Later, in the 1st century AD, the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder referred to the cork oak in his famous “Natural History”.

He explained that these trees were very popular in Greece and were considered as a symbol of freedom and honor, and for this reason only priests were allowed to cut them. In the same work, we can read that cork oaks were dedicated to the Olympus God – Jupiter. Their leaves and branches were used for wreaths that were awarded to the winners. In the Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed after the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano, wine amphoras, sealed with a cork were also found.