Decanter World Wine Awards'Brave' Portuguese wine company opts for screwcap
- Monday 18 April 2011
The Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde 2010, described as ‘lively and fresh… with refreshing acidity and a pleasant, light spritz’ is sold at around £6.99 in Waitrose, Majestic and the Wine Society.
‘This is not the first Portuguese wine to go under screwcap, but they are quite rare,’ James Forbes, marketing director of importer Stevens Garner told Decanter.com.
‘For the biggest wine company in Portugal to do this is quite rare. It’s a slightly maverick, and quite a brave, move. It might not be well-received by the rest of the industry.’
Forbes was referring to the fact Sogrape - which makes wine all over Portugal, as well as owning Finca Flichmann in Argentina – might feel pressured to support its home country’s cork industry.
Portugal produces half of the world’s natural cork and supplies over 80% of cork closures for wine.
Over the last decade natural cork has seen its market share decline. It accounted for 69% of the 18bn wine closures sold in 2009, with screwcaps taking 11% and plastic corks 20%. Ten years ago, over 95% of bottles used natural cork.
In regions which have embraced screwcap wholeheartedly, such as New Zealand, more than 90% of wines are sealed with it.
Sogrape’s entry-level brand Terra Franca is under screwcap, but it is highly unusual for Portuguese wines to be sealed with anything other than natural cork. In parts of Portugal – for example the Douro – it is illegal to use synthetic closures.
Sogrape export director Júlio Martins told Decanter.com they were responding the 'market requests' and had taken no 'pro-active position regarding closures'.
'Considering Quinta de Azevedo’s light and fresh style of wine the screwcap is very convenient for consumers to open and reseal the bottle, with the added benefit of allowing one to enjoy it by the glass.'
Apcor, the Portuguese cork association, said one winery switching one brand to screw cap did ‘not represent the overall picture’. It said that the cork industry had had an 8.5% yearly increase in exports, followed by a double digit increase in the first two months of 2011, and moreover Amorim, the market leader, had just posted its best results in 140 years.‘Natural cork’s continued success is firmly based on three key advantages: technical performance, added value and sustainability. In export markets – whether it be the US, the UK or China – these factors are becoming ever more important.’
Have your say!
Dave
July 07 10:23
We choose Portuguese wines almost exclusively. Apart from the quality of the wine itself, one of the main considerations, and an essential factor in making this choice is the use of natural cork and the peace of mind of knowing reliably that our wines will almost automatically come with this, being Portuguese. We have a very strong preference for closures which are made of a single piece of cork, as opposed to reconstituted cork pieces (but we are sympathetic in exceptional cases to the latter). We tend NOT to like closures which are mainly composed of reconstituted cork but which terminate at both ends with a disk of pure cork to give the appearance of a single piece throughout. This can cause embarrassment and return of wines. Does the company which is proposing the change to screwcap have loyalty to Portugal and its traditions, or is it a multinational? I do not believe that they really know how big a mistake they will make if they go ahead with this cheap scheme, or the unforeseen, by them, consequences.
Marty O'Hagan
September 06 07:55
Whilst the cork provides superior closure to the wooden peg & oil soaked rag system it replaced in the 1600's, it has since been superseeded in performance by the screwcap.
Why keep using an inferior closure system just because of tradition, when we now have something better?
Matt Thomson
August 25 12:56
I don't understand some things here! If Amorim has just posted it's best year in 140 years and cork exports are enjoying such growth, why the rather clumsy and expensive campaign?? Something doesn't add up!
I'm not so sure that if you take in to account the capsules and the failures (and return of such) that corks are as green as screwcaps.
Alexandre Raposo
June 14 18:57
cheaper cap, bigger profit.
every other argument is bs.