The fact that American consumers, who constitute the world’s second largest wine market, prefer cork was affirmed by a recent high-profile development in the wine industry.
Recently it was announced that a wine from Marlborough, New Zealand, had replaced California’s iconic Kendall Jackson as the Number One selling brand of Sauvignon Blanc in the USA.
According to British wine publication Decanter, Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has become the first New Zealand wine to top varietal sales, taking over from Kendall Jackson.
Says Joe Stanton, chief executive of Constallation NZ: “When we launched the brand we aspired to be the number one Sauvignon Blanc brand in the USA, and to do that we had to focus on targeting what we saw as the ?+¦-+???+¦-ú?-¦?+¦-ú?+¦+ëtraditional’ US wine consumer.”
To do this, Stanton said the company packaged the brand specifically for the American consumer by sealing the brand under cork, a move that meant going against the dominant screw-cap trend in New Zealand.
As they say, the proof of the pudding……This just goes to show that cork’s reputation as the closure of choice in the quality market is beyond refute.
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This just goes to show that cork+ô+¦-+Gö£Göñ+ô+¦-úGö£-¦+ô+¦-úGö£Gòùs reputation as the closure of choice in the quality market is beyond refute.
In what way?
First — does the American market represent the quality market? Does a sub $10 wine represent the quality market?
This is a mass market wine aimed at a mass market who are generally ignorant about wine let alone closures.
Only by those traditionalists who don’t know better. More than 50 years in the wine business has taught me corks contribute more toward bad wine than any other factor. I think the quality, not the cork, of the New Zealand brand could be the major contributor to that outcome.
Peter, if they are so ignorant why allow them to dictate? If the lower-end market start demanding cork, screwcaps are really screwed as they are mainly marketed as an el cheapo closure.
Many of your Piniotage buddies in SA are going back to cork, by the way.
And Jim, perhaps the pasting Kiwi wines have received in the British press of late says a lot about the dogged perception from Down Under than screwcap is king. All those eggy reductive odours, now so noticeable since Kiwi Sauvignon is trying to go lighter on the canned peas and gooseberries, are suddenly being noticed. Not to talk of the environmental effects of tin.
Well, we’re obviously not going to agree about closures.
I’ve not come across many Pinotage under screw cap unfortunately. However it seems Beyerskloof has gone over to screwcap completely for the white label after just supplying Tesco with screwcapped closed bottles.