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36 WINES&VINES August 2015 PACKAGING "M any, many wine drinkers want an old-fashioned cork. Folks like popping a natural cork out of their wine," said Ryan O'Connell, a founder of NakedWines.com. Based in Kenwood, Calif., the crowd-funded NakedWines launched in 2008 and now sells some 400,000 cases of numerous brands an- nually to "angel" investors. "We launched al- most exclusively with screwcap closures, and the feedback was loud and clear: A lot of cus- tomers hate screwcaps," O'Connell said. Their choice echoes a perception of quality, he continued. "Even when an angel likes screw- caps, they'll try to get wines with cork for gifts or dinner parties." Although he acknowledged that traditional cork and capsule closures are more expensive for wineries, "If they want the tradition and luxurious feel of a cork being pulled out of a wine bottle, we're happy to fund that. And at the same time, we have winemakers who want to return to cork and prefer to see their wines bottled with cork, so it's a win-win. If everybody around us (winemakers and wine drinkers) is asking for cork closures, we'd be fools to ignore that," O'Connell said. NakedWines sources cork from Amorim in Napa, Calif., and Scott Laboratories in Petaluma, Calif. The corks are branded prior to bottling. "We're experimenting with many different grades of cork to see how our angel customers like them. Generally the reaction has been posi- tive to all grades of natural cork," he said. Capsules are either tin or polylaminate and come from Napa's Janson Capsules. "Some are stock, some are branded with our angel wing (logo)," O'Connell said. NakedWine may be a relative upstart with a new business model, but more traditional wineries also are returning to cork. St. Francis Winery and Vineyards, estab- lished in in 1971 and best known for its red wine varieties, now produces some 250,000 cases of wine per year. Christopher Silva, presi- dent and CEO at St. Francis, agreed that per- ception of quality is a key issue. "We have spent the past three years elevating everything we do, with the help and guidance of our new generation team," he said. KEY POINTS Consumer perception of better quality has driven a return to natural cork among some producers of high-end wines. Natural cork producers invested millions in quality control, which has paid off through vast reductions in "cork taint," driving the return to traditional cork. Winemakers can now select from numerous viable options to safely present vintages to their chosen audience. Wineries cite consumer preference as reason for adhering to traditional closures By Jane Firstenfeld STICKING WITH CORK