I agree with Dr. Vino:

“Laying the guilt on consumers for what stems from a quality control problem seems like a strategy that can result in a great deal of consumer alienation.”

Thank you for an interesting read.

Paul Kalemkiarian
President, Wine of the Month Club
http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com

I agree with Dr. Vino:

“Laying the guilt on consumers for what stems from a quality control problem seems like a strategy that can result in a great deal of consumer alienation.”

Thank you for an interesting read.

Paul Kalemkiarian
President, Wine of the Month Club

Ken, who is this Mr. Coleman you keep bringing up?

What is offensive is to reduce an entire discussion to a single issue, that of the lynx. This is Mr. Coleman’s ‘Glenn Beck moment’. Not APCOR’s. The cork industry’s multiple arguments are far more detailed and nuanced than Mr. Coleman would have his faithful readers consider. Indeed, I find it amusing that Mr. Coleman’s comment in this thread is at least twice as long as his initial post.

There is a thriving, entertaining, and informative debate circulating on the internet around cork versus synthetic versus screwcap. My suggestion to Mr. Coleman would be use at least the same amount of time he spends playing with PhotoShop to provide useful, productive links so that his readership might become better informed. His ‘man shouts at cloud’ approach does nothing more than shutter thought.

I also suggest he brush up on his principles of forestry management. Why is it our national parks each summer suffer conflagrations?

“I don’t think the industry can guarantee 100 per cent elimination of TCA,” says Mr Amorim. “But we have achieved great improvements over the past 10 years, which have been recognised by international experts and consumers. Even our most ferocious critics have had to acknowledge the significant advances we have made.”

Questions have also begun to be raised concerning technical problems with both plastic stoppers and screw caps, he says, to the point where he now believes “the debate over cork stoppers and synthetic closures is no longer about a technical issue”. “Every market study shows that consumers prefer cork,” he says. “There’s a preference for tradition and natural products. A recent study in California showed that sales of wine with cork stoppers were growing faster than wine in the same price category using synthetic closures.”

Cork stoppers have also become competitive in terms of price, he says. “The price a bottle of wine with a cork stopper is on average slightly more expensive. But the cost of cork stoppers for wine producers can range from two euro cents to two euros each, compared with between five and seven euro cents for an artificial closure.”

Plastic closures are now losing market share to cork stoppers and screw caps, he says. “The only argument in favour of screw caps is now convenience. But what you gain in convenience you lose in style.”

Style–now that’s an element that could resonate a lot better with consumers than shame.

Maybe do an ad like the Mac guy and the PC guy where the guy pulling the cork hears a pop and the guy with the screwcap hears an unsatisfying twist?

Or do hire Wieden & Kennedy to do something akin to the Old Spice ads, which P&G has paid $20 million for this year, the same as the cork budget.

There are so many, less cynical, marketing options!

Also, TCA may be reduced but it is not eliminated as evidenced by the list of corked wines at Bar Boulud in the last three months.