Cork still top of the tops for British Consumers

Report shows that consumers still prefer cork closures

UK CONSUMERS still prefer cork closures on their wines, according to findings released this month by wine industry consultancy, Wine Intelligence.

The results from an on-line survey undertaken last August, reveal that the 1,150 respondents from a national sample of drinkers were nearly all procork.  These findings fly in the face of all the recent press coverage extolling the benefits of Stelvin closures.

The results may also come as a surprise to the major UK multiple retailers who have declared their support for the screwcap  movement and to the handful of producers who have committed to screwcap closure.

"These findings show that ordinary consumers of wine are not yet willing to abandon a key element of the wine drinking ritual, despite evidence pointing to the better sealing properties of screwcaps," commented Wine Intelligence managing director, Richard Halstead.

"There is a danger that retailers and wine producers will move too fast to embrace the new technology and in doing so alienate key segments of consumers."  There was some good news, however, for those in the industry who have already made the switch to screwcaps.

The results showed that drinkers of German and New Zealand wines came closest to a vote of confidence for screwcap, with just over half the drinkers of New Zealand wines believing that a screwcap on a bottle represented good value.

Just under one in three respondents also reported that their view of screwcaps had improved recently, demonstrating that the recent press coverage has had at least some positive impact on the UK wine drinking public.

In general, the respondents who were advocates of screwcaps tended to be over 45-years old with younger drinkers displaying much more loyalty to cork.

Nearly six in ten of all those surveyed, said they did not like buying wine with a screwcap closure.  The full report is available from Wine Intelligence and can be purchased online at www.wineintelligence.com.

Ian Clark, Villa Maria

We are still confident about the choice we have made of screwcap closures for our wines. In New Zealand there has been a massive amount of consumer education on the beneficial effects of screwcaps, with everyone from the Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative group, wine writers, TV wine programmes and wineries getting involved.

The New Zealand consumer is clearly exposed to the quality benefits of screwcaps and this is reflected in their confidence to buy screwcap wines.  This kind of level of education is now beginning to happen in the UK and with ourselves and now American and French premium wine producers also using screwcaps it should send the top quality message to the consumer as well.

James Gabbaini, Sabaté

Any valid research that is undertaken on this subject is great and this may be of some help to buyers but I don’t think it is going to be of any great benefit to the wine trade as a whole.

What we really need to do is get to a situation where information is being passed onto consumers about which closure is best for which wine and to stop polarising the debate so that it has to be one or the other.

It isn’t about that.  The message we need to get out is that there are different closures for different wines. 

Helen McGinn, Tesco

For us this is a very positive outcome.  The fact that nearly 30% of respondents said that they were positive about screwcap closures is great. 

That that many people can have changed their opinion from not liking, or not caring about screwcaps to feeling positive about them, is very encouraging.

We need to keep up the good work in terms of education.  We try and do some of that ourselves but the increased press coverage has been invaluable and that needs to continue.

How would you rate buying wine that comes in bottles with the following types of  closures?