Chinese demand for cork closures encourages producers to shun screwcaps
An increasing demand for wines sealed with corks in China is encouraging Australian producers to turn their backs on screwcaps.
This is according to Jordi Duran of Spanish cork producers Trefinos. “A number of Australian producers are going back to cork because of the influence of Chinese consumers who want their wine bottled under cork,” he said in an interview in Drinks Business. “If there is an enemy of cork today, it’s screwcaps, not synthetic corks. The quality of screwcaps has improved a lot and they are an okay closure for 80% of wines.”
Looking ahead, Duran said that it was the duty of the cork industry to fight back against the proliferation of alternative closures and packaging now on the market. “I’ve seen millennials drink wine from a can, but where do you draw the line? The cork industry has started to fight back,” he said. He conceded that screwcaps are more convenient than corks but asked, is wine a convenience beverage? “I don’t think so.”
Trefinos is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of still and sparkling wine stoppers with subsidiaries in France, Italy and the US. Producing over 500 million units a year, Trefinos counts Torres and Moët & Chandon among its key clients and exports to 22 countries.
Spain is the second largest producer of cork after Portugal. It is also made in France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.