Although there have been big increases in acceptance of both synthetic and screw cap closures, cork remains the closure of choice for all occasions, according to a recent survey of French, British, Australian and American consumers conducted by Tragon Corporation of Redwood City, California. Tragon is a full-service, custom marketing research and consulting firm, specializing in sensory evaluation and its appropriate uses and applications for consumer product testing. As the developers of QDA® (Quantitative Descriptive Analysis) and Product Optimization® (PROP) methods, Tragon provides unique product performance insights for Marketing, R&D and Production to guide clients towards creating consumer-preferred product styles.

Consumer Purchasing Decisions

A key survey result was that while price was the first and most important factor for U.S. consumers purchasing wine under $8 a bottle, the second most important factor for wines was having a natural cork. Perhaps more surprising, though, was a finding that for U.S. consumers purchasing wine above $15 and on a frequent basis, natural cork was the single most important factor in their buying decisions.

Results were presented during the 2007 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California by Jane Robichaud, a food and wine sensory expert and Tragon's vice president of global business. "We were interested in measuring the importance of variables that drive consumer purchasing decisions," said Robichaud. "These include price, region, closure type and varietals." Robchaud, who has worked as a commercial winemaker, previously served as director of consumer and winemaking insights for Beringer Blass Wine Estates (now Fosters Wine Estates).

Other studies, including ongoing work at the Australian Wine Research Institute, have looked at closure performance, and Wine Business Monthly's annual survey report has shown how winemakers view various closures.

Robichaud and Rebecca Bleibaum of Tragon, on the other hand, wanted to know how consumers react to natural, synthetic and screw cap wine closures and learn more about how closure type might play a role in overall wine purchase decisions. Tragon's study combined questions on natural and "technical corks" because consumers don't perceive a difference and all are made with cork. The study set out to see what alternative closure consumers would be willing to purchase for different wine styles and price points. "We really wanted to look at the appropriateness of these closures in various situations, to see which closures consumers would use in everyday contexts and in more formal ones," Robichaud explained.

Closures and Wine Purchasing

The first part of the study sought to find out how important the closure was to the wine purchase. Given the alternatives of synthetics or screw caps, it then sought to determine what alternatives consumers would want to purchase and for what styles of wine and price points.

Tragon surveyed 300 core wine consumers in the U.S. in 2004 via paper ballot and another 940 in 2006, using an Internet survey and conjoint analysis. Tragon partnered with AWRI's Leigh Francis and Kate Lattey (now with Orlando) to survey some 400 Australian wine consumers in 2005.

Tragon surveyed another 160 wine consumers in France in 2006 and completed an extensive Internet study in the U.K. in early 2007. In the U.K., where much of the market is geared toward lower price points, quotas were set to ensure participation from customers who buy wine at various price points, including the luxury category.

The conjoint survey with U.S. consumers provided the test subjects with a series of questions incorporating various combinations of price, closure, varietal and region. By asking which combinations consumers were most likely to purchase, the researcher could determine the relative importance of the product drivers consumers found most compelling. The conjoint analysis was followed by a full survey on wine consumption, buying habits, knowledge and occurrence of cork taint, and purchase interest for different closures as well as for usage appropriateness.

For U.S. consumers who were specifically spending less than $8 per bottle, the study showed that the most important factor is, not surprisingly, price. Again, at the higher price point of $15 and above, cork was the most important factor.

Usage Appropriateness

Tragon looked at "usage appropriateness" across four countries. Data in all of them showed, not surprisingly, that natural cork is seen almost universally as appropriate for all usage occasions.

U.K. consumers were more comfortable with purchasing wine with alternative closures for everyday occasions than were French consumers. Australians were more accepting of alternatives for special occasions, with 40-50 percent being comfortable with alternatives for wines to be given as gifts or presented at a dinner party.

In the U.K., people newer to the wine category were more accepting of screw caps for formal occasions.

"The first take home: natural cork is important to the American consumer, especially in more formal usage situations," Robichaud said. "The conjoint survey revealed that cork is even more important than price for the consumer in the upper price points.

"Natural cork is more acceptable for all usage occasions, especially for experienced wine consumers," Robichaud explained. "The purchase intent of both synthetics and screw caps has increased quite a lot in the last couple of years but still lags far behind that seen in Australia and the U.K. The acceptance is higher for whites, and yes, I have good news for everybody: both screw caps and synthetics are seen as more appropriate than they were in 2004 for casual usage occasions. The screw cap is just not there for more formal use occasions. This shows us that a lot of people are more aware of cork taint. They're saying, 'The natural cork thing isn't working for me,' and they look at the synthetic closure as being something that satisfies those needs for the person wanting to pull the cork outit resolves the cork taint issue for some, but they're not ready to go all the way to the screw cap."

"Synthetics really are a good alternative at this point, and those newer to the category find screw caps more acceptable, but only for the casual occasions, " Robichaud said.

And how does this differ from the U.K., the largest U.S. export market?

In the U.K., natural cork is important, but the alternatives are well-established and accepted. The high purchase interest for wines in synthetic and screw cap closures is quite evident, even with red wines. Tragon's research also indicated that retailers like TESCO may be in part responsible for driving the acceptance of screw caps in the U.K., not the consumers. The Tragon survey pointed out that the consumer doesn't necessarily understand the trend of switching from natural cork to screw caps. It's often not linked to a problem with natural cork; it's perceived as a matter of price, and in the U.K. perhaps, it is more a matter of what the retailer is choosing for the consumer. wbm

Cyril Penn has been Editor-in-Chief of Wine Business Monthly since 2000.