Wineries claim screw top success

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 14th March 2002

Three New Zealand wine makers say a decision to replace corks with screw tops on some products has been vindicated by commercial success and wine awards.

Last year Forrest Estate Winery, Lawsons Dry Hills Wines and Kim Crawford Wines all opted to bottle a large percentage of their 2001 vintages with screw top closures rather than with traditional corks.

Kim Crawford general manager, Erica Crawford, says the advent of screw closures initially prompted some negative comment from those who feared New Zealand's industry's international standing would be jeopardised.

"But, little more than six months down the track, we certainly feel vindicated, so much so that we are now bottling our Premium Pinot Noir, which retails at US$35 per bottle, in screw cap bottles," she says.

The Auckland-based company says it has also been asked to supply additional quantities of its 2001 Marlborough Dry Riesling to the American market with the specific requirement that the wine be screw-capped.

"In addition to their success in the United States, our screw-topped wines have also scored a hit with wine lovers in the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as here in New Zealand.

"In all these markets, there's a sophisticated younger generation of wine drinkers, who are much more interested in the quality of the wine than in the ceremony and mystique traditionally associated with corks."

John Forrest of Marlborough's Forrest Estate Winery says sales of his label in Ireland have doubled due to the enthusiasm for screw closures shown by the winery's Irish agent and the decision to deliver 100% of its exports to that country in the new twist-topped bottles.

"In contrast, when supplying the much larger United Kingdom market, we cautiously opted to send only 20% of our deliveries in screw tops, only to learn that this segment was pre-sold before it ever reached our distributors there.

"It's our impression that the British wine media and wine-buying public are setting the pace for the acceptance of screw tops, with wine distributors following some way behind."

Lawsons Dry Hills is reporting similar positive feedback and notes that a particularly encouraging trend has been the enthusiastic response of top United Kingdom wine critics and other international experts.

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