UK: Consumers "not put off" by Stelvin

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 22 October 2003

A survey conducted to discover whether UK drinkers were prejudiced against screw cap closures on wine has found that a majority of respondents had no problem buying or had already bought wine using this type of closure.

The survey was commissioned by Villa Maria, New Zealand's largest independent winemaker, to assess its decision to convert all its red and white wines to Stelvin closures last year.

The survey, carried out by Tickbox.net for Villa Maria, found that 64.4% of those questioned would buy, or already had bought, screwcapped wines. Meanwhile, 60.3% responded that they would not be the slightest bit embarrassed to take screwwcapped wines to a party.

Villa Maria UK manager Warren Adamson said: "For Villa Maria to convert all production to this new bottle closure was a significant and highly risky move for us. But we felt that we could no longer allow aromatics of our wine to be so affected by the vagaries of cork.

"Both restaurant sales and sales in the off trade could have been severely damaged by our initiative, but instead sales of Villa Maria have actually risen, with a 13.7% increase in the UK over the last 12 months."

Sectors: Wine