Over the past 10 years we have seen many of our customers who use our stainless steel wine drums for Sauvignon Blanc and other un-oaked whites make the switch from cork to screw cap closures once the wine is bottled. In a recent survey by Wine Business Monthly natural corks continue to be the standard by which all other closure types are measured. The ratings for natural cork remain highest across the board with the exception of the average ratings given for price and ease of removal. In both these categories, screw caps were given slightly higher ratings by respondents than natural cork. In addition, the average rating for the product performance of screw caps has reached parity with that for natural cork. As a general rule, the respondents from midsized and large wineries rated screw caps and technical closures lower than respondents from very small and small wineries. In broad terms, the overarching result has been for respondents to rate natural cork increasingly as “positive”, technical closures as “slightly negative” and screw caps as “slightly positive”. When these responses are compared to previous surveys, we see that they are in line with previously established trends. The overall rating for technical closures and screw caps has trended up very slightly, while the average overall rating for natural cork has seen a bit more steady increase. The average overall rating given by the respondents for synthetic closure has been trending downward for every survey over the past nine years.
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