Cork claims high ground on premium price and climate

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 03 November, 2021

Sealing wine with natural cork rather than screwcap can drive higher returns, according to data from Nieslen in a report commissioned by The Portuguese Cork Association.

The study, which tracked the prices of the top 1,500 SKUs in the UK grocery market over the past four years, showed a value increase of 29% for cork sealed wines, against a value increase of 10% for screwcap sealed bottles.

Within these figures, red wine under cork sat at an average bottle price of £9.05 compared with £5.96 for screw-capped wine, up 26% compared with 13% respectively since 2017, while whites romped in with a 36% increase under cork against 13% for screwcap, pitting £9.20 against £6.23.

Of the cork-sealed wines among 1,500 SKUs tracked, some 81% were Old World, with Spain, then France and then Italy accounting for the lion’s share.

The data also showed a remarkable 105% uplift in value of New World wines sealed under cork since 2020, with Argentina accounting for 40% of those bottles, followed by Australia at 24% and South Africa at 16%.

In a release coinciding with COP26, The Portuguese Cork Association suggested that UK consumers had “voted for sustainability and premiumisation” by choosing to spend up on cork-sealed wines, with the obvious inference that using cork could deliver greater returns for producers.

This inference, though, would appear to have some independent backing, with Wine Intelligence recently reporting that on balance Millennials and Gen Z drinkers associate cork with quality and prefer its natural credentials.

The Portuguese Cork Association’s calculations were based in part on data reported by Nielsen for the UK’s top 1,500 wine SKUs, split by natural cork compared to other bottle openings (Brandbank defined) for the 52-week period July 2021, for the UK total grocery market.

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