Vinventions works to improve the screwcap

Improving the scewcap by reducing its carbon footprint and fragility during transport is one aim of Vinventions, a company that sells all types of wine closure.

Screwcaps are “a pretty vulnerable product”

While the drinks business has reported extensively on the developments taking place in the cork stopper industry, there has been comparatively little recent news on technological advances being made by screwcap manufacturers – and Vinventions wants to change this.

The company, which was formed in 2015 to unite five brands in every major closure category (listed, bottom), is focusing on enhancing the screwcap, acutely aware of this particular stopper’s weaknesses, and, no doubt, the chance to seize a competitive advantage.

Dr. Heino Freudenberg, who is president & CEO of the business, told db earlier this year, “Screwcaps are a strongly growing category that offer convenience but they have drawbacks in terms of their carbon footprint and the demands of the supply chain: they are a pretty vulnerable product.”

Continuing, he explained, “Screwcaps are easily dented, and if that happens, there is a high chance that the wine will oxidise, so you have to make sure that the supply chain is short.

“Inseal closures are much more robust: while a screwcap has a very small area where the seal touches the top of the bottle – it is just a few square millimetres – an inseal closure is in contact with 4cm [of glass], so it is much, much more robust,” he added, before stating, “The screwcap is much more fragile, but if the supply chain is managed, then it’s a great product, which is why we have it.”

To improve the performance of the screwcap, Freudenberg said that the industry could expect to see a new product from Vinventions towards the end of this year, which, he said, was designed to “make the screwcap a more exciting product,” while also addressing the drawbacks mentioned above.

“We are looking at new raw materials for the screwcap, we are going to move away from aluminium because it has such a bad carbon footprint and it is so fragile in the supply chain,” he said.

As previously reported by db, Nomacorc was the first closure manufacturer to release a comparative carbon footprint study when it published the results of a Greenloop audit in April 2008.

Having analysed the CO2 released during the production of the raw material for all types of closure and their packaging, then the manufacture of the stoppers, and distribution, as well as disposal, it showed that cork had the lowest carbon footprint and screwcaps the highest.

As for the oxidation of wines sealed with a screwcap due to the mechanical damage, Peter Gago, who is the chief winemaker at Penfolds, has previously told db that he has observed this problem on around 1% of his wines, which he said was the same percentage of his products that suffer from TCA spoilage due to cork.

Freudenberg also told db that Vinventions were currently working on a number of developments for other types of wine closure, including the advancement of its glue-free agglomerated cork stoppers called Sübr (by Ohlinger); expanding the supply of its plant-based synthetic stoppers from Nomacorc, and furthering the quality of its “high-end” natural cork business.

Regarding the latter point, he said that Vinventions offer a non-detectable TCA guarantee like Amorim and MA Silva, but added that Vinventions is now working on picking up whether a natural cork could transfer other “off notes besides TCA”, as well as reducing the potential for variable oxygen transfer rates in the stopper.

“We are using technology that is similar to x-ray to look at every cork for TCA, other off-notes and the structural pattern to estimate the oxygen transfer,” he recorded.

Concluding, he said, “This will make it [natural whole cork] a truly reliable and consistent product.”

Vinventions’ brands:

Nomacorc PlantCorcs™,
Ohlinger Natural Corks,
Vintop Screwcaps,
Syntek Synthetic Corks
Vinolok Glass Closures

Read more:

PENFOLDS TO UP FOCUS ON GLASS CLOSURES

WINE CLOSURES: THE FACTS