Wine makers now prefer aluminium caps over corks

Melbourne, April 10, 2008: Uncorking the bubbly, the iconic symbol of hi-society celebration honed into a ritual over the decades, is turning into an unintended victim, thanks to the wine industry’s quest for technology upgradation.

A number of winemakers, including global players like Moet & Chandon and Fosters Group, are showing a marked preference for aluminum crown caps over the good-old wine cork. As a result, the pomp associated with opening a bottle of wine could vanish over a period of time and your wine opener could become a museum piece.

More importantly, storage of wine is becoming simpler as the need for laying bottles horizontally would cease to exist. Wine bottles with aluminum crown caps can be stored vertically, as there is no danger of the cork drying out, making the process of opening the bottle clumsy.

Wine in tetra packs and cans may not be ideas whose time has come, but the aluminum crown is gaining increasing acceptance. This could be good news for booming consumer markets like India, where new customers are not accustomed to storage and uncorking techniques.

The change, industry players say, is being driven by supermarkets which do not want to be saddled with wine bottles being returned by customers due to a faulty cork or difficulties in uncorking it. Aluminum crown caps, they say, are 100% reliable, as the chances of a cork going bad are far higher.

“There is a growing preference for aluminum crown caps. They are easy to open and storage is easier,” said Mr. Owen Malone, a director with the Foster’s Group which produces significant quantities of wine, though the brand is known for its popular beer.

The shift to aluminum crown caps is catching up more rapidly in countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Argentina, the new age wine producers. Traditional players in Europe are also shifting, albeit at a slower pace.

Stephen Webber, Chief Winemaker at De Bortoli Wines near Melbourne, is philosophical about the switchover to aluminum crown caps and considers the issue settled. That the aluminum will not interfere with the taste of flavour of the wine is a factor that gives him comfort in aiming for premium quality products that seek to showcase the quality of grapes into fine wine.

Cameron Murphy, Business Development Manager for the Asia-Pacific region at Domaine Chandon, feels that the aluminum crown and cork would co-exist. The Australian winery of Moet & Chandon uses both cork as well as aluminum crowns. “Corks cannot be 100% perfect. Therefore, the innovation,” he added.

Industry representatives are of the view that special editions of aged premium wine would still continue to use corks while the staple varieties would be quick to switch over. The use of aluminum crowns is more prominent now in the case of sparkling wine but other categories are also catching up, they say.

Another factor encouraging phase-out of corks is the smart expansion of the wine market in countries where growing prosperity is resulting in consumers switching over to wine from hard liquor. The hassle-free aluminum crown is also ‘cool’ for new generation consumers with an attitude, it is felt.

Source – The Economic Times