Taste, price, new consumption patterns… Will screw caps on top of wine bottles replace corks?

“In Australia, they don’t even know how to use a corkscrew”. The joke comes from Anthony Aubert, a Languedoc merchant who markets several brands of wine. “Unlike father’s wine that stains”. Understanding wine “light, fruity, digestible” – trends of the moment – and which, like most wines consumed on the other side of the world, are often topped with a screw cap.

“For the heart of the market, the screw is great”, continues as co-founder of Aubert et Mathieu. The heart of the market, according to him, is located “Under ten euros” Bottled more and more restaurants are also getting involved. “Some people don’t even want a cork by the glass for their wine anymore, because it has to go faster for the bartender. Amidst the crowd, when the terrace is full, he can’t spend even a minute opening a bottle. “Anthony Obert explains.

A substitute for corked wine

This instrument is so shunned by consumers in France that we forget it is French. When George Brassens sings Friends first In 1964, Le Bouchage Mécanique, Chalons-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire), markets the StelCap, the first aluminum shell equipped with an oxygen impermeability seal. First used for the spirits market, the innovation is adapted to wine bottles. Demand, at the time, came mainly from Switzerland: producers who bottled the Chasselas grape variety favored it. They see it as a solution to combat trichloroanisole (TCA), the molecule responsible for cork contamination.

For nearly 40 years, the sale remained confidential before a crisis hit the cork sector. In the early 2000s, as the demand for wine bottles continued to grow, the production of good quality corks could not keep up. The result: “corked” wines, or wines showing “run”, are multiplying and winegrowers are starting to look at techniques that will not make it possible to spoil their product. “That’s when it really starts to take hold.”Catherine Fontinha, Marketing Director of Amcor, which markets the capsules that have become Stelvin, to better export internationally.

“Over 15 or 20 euros, people don’t follow”

Cork’s flagship is rocking but resilient, thanks to technological innovations. In 2003, the Diem Company marketed a stopper made from agglomerated cork, promising no aftertaste. A revolution that is proving its worth and on which the entire sector is gearing up to release its own technical stopper. That doesn’t stop the screw cap from finding a spot. Apart from Australia and New Zealand, Germany, England and Scandinavian countries appreciate it. In France, Spain and Italy, “It’s hard”Catherine knows Fontinha.

Twenty years later, market distribution is the subject of a numbers battle. Citing Euromonitor – an English organization specializing in market research – Amcor indicates that screw caps represent 34% of caps sold worldwide, 24% in France (almost ten points more than in 2017). numbers “Very exaggerated” According to the French Cork Federation, which claims two-thirds of global cork sales. there “The house is not on fire, we continue to gain market share”The federation’s president, Frank Autard, is also the French director of Amorim, the world leader in cork stoppers.

According to Frank Autard, the “Competition is healthy” Between two closed methods that target different sectors. With “premium” corks and wines from which we expect aging effects, thanks to the micro-oxygen allowed by the material. For capsules, entry-level. “Beyond 15 or 20 euros, people don’t follow“, confirms Pierre Flement, a wine merchant specializing in French wines based in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine). In his store, 400 references and only six with screw caps. Most consumers still associate screws with bad wine. He has nothing against it.

“It is true that cork is the best way to age wine. But for wines that are drunk quickly, it makes no difference. Some winemakers make exceptional wines and use screw caps.”

Pierre Flement, wine merchant in Ruil-Malmaison

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Adele Metrot, co-manager and operator of the prestigious Meursault estate in Burgundy, knows it: her father “The International Movement Did Not Create” When it switched to a screw cap in the early 2000s. But for that, “This is ideal”. Also to hold wine. “You open 3,000 bottles with screw caps, you have 3,000 identical bottles. You open twelve bottles with corks, you have three types of wine”. However, the market is not ready to buy Meursault Premier Cru with a screw. cork stopper, “Most Expensive”, so continues to sit atop 70% of the bottles sold by his estate. The screw is reserved for entry-level products (Bourgogne Chardonnay, Bourgogne Pinot Noir and Bourgogne Aligote).

A new world of capsules, caps and consumption

The fact is that the wine market is undergoing profound changes in consumption, which Stelvin hopes to take advantage of. “We’re really going to position ourselves on new wines, natural wines, whites, rosés and even pinot noirs.”, explains Catherine Fontinha. Even on alcohol-free wine, which is experiencing more and more success. A stark contrast to traditional strong red wines – Bordeaux in the lead – and wines for aging, which have become less appreciated by consumers in recent years.

A battle is also being fought at the recycling table to attract new generations. Cork Federation, which has developed its own field “Already 15 years ago” Regrettably, through its president, the lack of support from public authorities on this issue. “A little 20%” Caps will be recycled today, according to its president Frank Autard, who dreams of a cap bin that collects electric batteries. Aluminum caps are disposable in most recycling bins, even though the plastic seal inside – up to 10% of the cap’s volume – ends up in incineration.

In order to gain, or not lose, market share, capsule and cork players must ultimately defend the bottle model itself. Because in the consumer revolution, cubbies (or “bags in boxes”) are taking over… and cans are coming.