Decanter World Wine AwardsClosures not a priority for US consumers, says survey
- Wednesday 6 June 2012
Closures may get many wine professionals foaming at the mouth, but it seems US consumers are not so fussed. Almost all of the 600 regular wine drinkers surveyed by Merrill Partners Research said that closure type is not among their top three reasons for buying a wine.
'The research showed that most core wine drinkers only focus on the closure when it creates a problem,' said Merrill co-founder Pat Merrill. Synthetic closure producer Nomacorc commissioned the study.
Natural corks are still used in around 70% of wine sold in the US, but Nomacorc wants to eat further into this share by highlighting its own closures' reliability.
Speaking to Decanter.com, Nomacorc's global marketing director, Jeff Slater, said that half of consumers questioned by Merrill have had a problem with natural cork, including taint and breakages. He said this supports Nomacorc's position. 'I don't pay attention to a broken shoelace, but if I buy new ones and they break again, suddenly it has my attention.'
However, Carlos de Jesus, spokesperson for leading natural cork producer Amorim, said the Nomacorc-sponsored study 'flies in the face' of other research. 'There are over a dozen other surveys commissioned by the cork industry around the world, including in the US, that show consumer preference for natural cork is overwhelming,' he told Decanter.com.
De Jesus added that Amorim's volume sales have risen by double-digit percentage points in the US in the last two years. 'The US wine industry didn't grow as fast as that, so we're confident we have grown market share,' he said.
Have your say!
Whitney Rigsbee
June 19 21:25
Hi David, thanks for your input. In regards to "wrestling" corks out of the bottle, I know it can be very difficult to remove plastic injection molded corks (we like to call those "plastic plugs"). However, Nomacorc closures (as seen above) are actually comprised of a foam core which makes it easy to insert the corkscrew and pull out of the bottle. In independent consumer tests, they're actually easier to extract and reinsert than natural corks. And, they never break or crumble - which is always a plus. You can find out more about Nomacorc closures here: www.nomacorc.com
Elyse
June 09 04:29
I do notice the closure, but often not until I go to open the bottle - usually because they're hidden under foil.
I still prefer cork, but would rather have a synthetic cork than a screwtop!
David Gross
June 07 12:25
I certainly agree that the closure is not a factor and, if it is, cork is a minus, not a plus. With that said, "fake cork" closures are my last choice. At my age, they're almost impossible to get a corkscrew into, wrestle out of the bottle and then somehow try to jam them back in. Screwcaps, now there's an idea!