Plaques de Muselets – Every Plaque Tells a Story

Plaques de Muselets – Every Plaque Tells a Story

How many people notice that the wire cage holding the cork firmly onto a bottle of sparkling wine can contain minor works of art? Usually, we’re in a hurry to open a bottle of fizz and often discard the wire cage before we take a closer look at it. This contraption is the muselet, or muzzle. Within it, the metal cap that holds the cork is the plaque. The plaque frequently has a decorative design printed or embossed upon it. Consequently, this article is about these Plaques de Muselets. They originated in Champagne, but are commonplace in the Sparkling Wine industry. The picture above shows a case containing 48 examples from Champagne. Each one is different, a tangible memory of an enjoyable bottle.

Champagne Plaques de Muselets

While this article features Champagne Plaques de Muselets, any bottle of Sparkling wine is likely to have a wire cage holding the cork in. With gas pressures of up to six atmospheres in the bottle, it’s a major consumer safety consideration!  Some artisanal bottles still employ hand-tying with hemp string, which was the method before the invention of wire cages.

The muselet (or muzzle) has three parts:

• A wire ring called a ceinture;
• The wire cage itself. It consists of four separate wires forming the legs (jambe).
• The plaque, a circular decorative cap made of tinplate.

A little history

In 1844, Alphonse Jaquesson applied to patent the circular tin plaque he invented. However, the rest of the wire cage took time to develop and standardise. The cages first appeared in the 1880s, and many were made in-house by the large Champagne Houses such as Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger and Pommery. Each Champagne House had a bespoke design. For example, some had three legs while others had four.

What eventually led to the standardised wire cage was the need for automation to deal with millions of bottles.

Until the 1950s, each wire cage had to be fitted to the bottle by hand, a slow and costly task. However, by the 1960s, automated machines could fix them on, at a rate of up to 20,000 bottles per hour on the disgorgement line. For this, there must be a standardised design.

These days, all wire cages are the same, with four legs, controlled by ISO 9002. The only exception is the choice of the design on the plaque.

The Plaque

The first printed plaques appeared in 1906 from Pol Roger. Some sparkling wine makers still use a generic plaque for all their bottles. However, Champagne Houses have long been masters of luxury brand marketing. They realised that plaques de Muselets express image and identity, and signify art and craft.

Some are even designed by famous artists, and can be used to mark a particular vintage, cuvée or special edition, or to celebrate a person or commemorate an event.

I particularly like those celebrating Barack Obama with Champagne Pierre Mignon. Is it any wonder that sparkling wine makers around the world have adopted similar strategies?

The plaque de muselet may even be printed on the underside. This might contain a saying or a promotional message.

 

 

 

 

Down the rabbit hole

Unsurprisingly, Champagne Plaques de Muselets are becoming increasingly collectable, where some obsessives can succumb to Placomusophilia.

Meanwhile, anyone interested in exploring this particular topic will want to consult the definitive book on the subject. Répertoire des Plaques de Muselets du Champagne by M. Lambert.

2024 is the latest complete edition. This book is A4 in size, with 500 colour illustrations and 18,000 entries! In France, there are also dedicated websites and fairs for collectors.

Indeed, since 1989, Vertus, the village on the Côte de Blancs, has become the Mecca for collectors, with an annual fair. And, of course, there are collectors of plaques de muselets from other countries and regions.

For many, it’s a harmless adult version of swapping Panini stickers. But there are obsessive collectors and swappers, just as there are with Stamps and Coins. While most plaques de muselets are worth a few euros at most, old and rare examples can change hands for larger sums. There are even specially designed cases and albums to display them in.

Indeed, I sold my case containing 48 examples, and it earned enough to buy a couple of bottles of Jaquesson 738. I consider that rather apt.

As for the rarest and most valuable, it appears that the Penny Black of the Plaques de Muselets world is the 1923 Pol Roger, pictured above. It’s reputed that there are only three examples, all previously owned by Winston Churchill, who has the eponymous Pol Roger cuvée named after him.  Allegedly, one of those sold for €15,000.

Every Plaque Tells A Story.