A New Twist on Tradition: Selling the Experience to U.S. Wine Consumers

ABSTRACT

The design of the wine package is considered by most consumers to be a direct reflection of the quality of the wine. The emergence of alternative wine closures has grown mainly in response to quality control efforts by winemakers to protect against cork failure. However, with the introduction of screw cap closures nearly 40 years ago, the wine world has experienced an upheaval in what is the appropriate style of closure to use. Telephone interviews assessing attitudes to alternative closures amongst winemakers and sommeliers were conducted. The results indicated that many winemakers are not yet comfortable with screw caps and sommeliers are reluctant to create a disturbance that consumers might not completely understand.

KEYWORDS:

• Sommeliers
• screw cap
• natural cork