By Cyril Penn

Is the type of closure used on a wine bottle more important in terms of consumer purchase preference than the type of wine that’s in the bottle? Is it even more important than where the wine came from?

I can’t help but be a bit skeptical that the closure is the biggest driver of consumer preference. I see closures as an accessory, as part of the wine’s packaging. Would you buy a new car based on the type of tires it had? The closure isn’t the most important consideration when I buy…

There’s a new twist in the battle of the bottle stoppers
BY WENDY THIES SELL

A billboard along the east side of Highway 101 in Nipomo reads “Better for wine. Better for the planet. Cork is the natural choice.” And with those words, a 400-year-old, billion-dollar industry fights back after years of losing market share to the humble screw cap.

Many Americans still wrongly associate the easy-to-use and re-use screw-cap tops with cheap jug wines. But thousands of wineries, many of them high-end producers, have switched from corks to something else.

Corks have nearly disappeared Down Under.…

NAPA, Calif.  – More than 60 percent of the top 100 domestic premium wine brands are now sealed with natural cork, another sign of the growing resurgence of cork and the diminishing use and acceptance of alternative closures.

Case sales of the top 100 domestic premium wine brands sealed with cork surged 7.7 percent during the four-weeks ended Sept. 17, 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier. During the same period, the sale of the top 100 brands finished with alternative closures plummeted 11.9 percent. The results are from a survey of A.C. Nielsen data by…

I am completely behind 100% Cork for my wine bottles. It looks like I’m not alone according to a recent survey by the Cork Quality Council. So sniff the cork.

More than 60 percent of the top 100 domestic premium wine brands are now sealed with natural cork, another sign of the growing resurgence of cork and the diminishing use and acceptance of alternative closures.

“Case sales of the top 100 domestic premium wine brands sealed with cork surged 7.7 percent during the four-weeks ended Sept. 17, 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier. During the…

By HOWARD HEWITT

Cork, synthetics, screw caps and now glass closures can bring wine geeks to a furious debate.

For nearly 300 years, cork was the wine closure of choice for the wine industry. But synthetic corks and screw caps have made major inroads in the wine market.
Cork’s downfall started in the early ‘80s when a Swiss researcher discovered TCA — or cork taint. Even cork industry promoters will admit cork taint does exist. But the big debate is whether it’s in a mere fraction of all bottled wine or up to 10 percent of all…

By Associated Press

CORUCHE, Portugal — In the centuries-old cork forests of southern Portugal, locals who for generations have harvested the bark that bungs billions of bottles around the world don’t think much of the rival plastic stoppers and metal screwcaps threatening their livelihoods.

“Cork is a safer bet,” says Joao Simoes, a 64-year-old, as he peels the bark off a cork oak — a job he’s been doing for the past 40 years. “It seals (bottles) better.”

Some of the world’s leading winemakers disagree. Since the turn of the century they have used more and more alternative…