It’s one of those minor (or major?) cultural differences that makes being a marketer such a pleasure. In France, Marquès de Cacérès sells its Rosé 2008 with a synthetic cork – just for the pleasure of hearing the little noise when opening the bottle. In the US, the same bottle is sold with a screwcap. What does it tell us, marketers? Americans are practical people: this wine is made to be drunk within the summer. Why bother with a cork? A screwcap makes the opening much easier and you can bring the bottle to a picnic or a barbecue without bringing a cork opener.

What does it mean for a winery? We all heard about the controversy of cork vs. screw cap for wines with ageing potential. I’m talking here about wines for everyday consumption – wines that could – and should – be drunk within a few months of their bottling. Are there any advantages for the winery to switch to screw caps? In some ways there are: Screw caps are cheaper – once the bottling line cost has been swallowed. Aluminium screw caps are recyclable and there is a security to avoid tampering with the bottle: the “Roll On Tamper Evident” (ROTE), which is the tiny metal “bridges” connecting the top of the screw cap to the body and making a distinctive “click” noise when the screw cap is opened, proving its integrity.

In spite of their advantages, screw caps are still not welcome in traditional Europe where consumers link wine and cork. They are associated with cheap and bad table wines when in the New World (US, Australia, New Zealand) they are common because consumers just hate the cork taint. European consumers consider the taint as part of the wine culture: it is unavoidable but rare in high quality wines – therefore their high level of tolerance for the problem.

In conclusion is there a real debate on screw cap vs. cork? Maybe not: it’s more a cultural debate on tradition vs. innovation.

I wrote very often about labels, a very good way to catch the eye of a potential buyer on an overcrowded wine shelf. Closures could also be a very important clue, if I believe a recent article in Wines & Vines. The article’s author highlights three points:

• “Although packaging remains in constant flux, making the most of the capsule has become simpler and less expensive with new processes and materials.
• Many wineries that bottle wines with screwcaps still seek to replicate the finished look offered by capsules.
• Although tin remains the traditional, upscale preference, other materials now offer eye-catching décor options.”

I won’t get into the technical details between foil, aluminium and polylam because I’m more interested by the marketing strategy but I must say I was impressed by all the thoughts wineries put in the subject. A bottle carries the entire image of the wine and the winery: colors and material are part of the process. I was working a few months ago on the launch of a French pink wine in the US. We wondered about the color of the foil: should it be pink like the wine or almond green to complement the color scheme of the label? After many testings between us and a panel of drinkers, we decided on the almond green, very unusual and eye-catching.

An other type of closure not mentioned in the Wines & Vines article is colored wax: it is very eye-catching but, of course, rather costly and should be limited to very high-end wines.