Brilliant packaging propels the sales of Voga wines
By John Schreiner
November 20, 2007
Last year, British wine writer Jancis Robinson delivered a furious rant on her website against synthetic corks.
“There is something bizarre,” she wrote, “about continuing to sell a commonplace consumer product that cannot be enjoyed without recourse to a special
implement… Synthetic corks will respond to a remarkably narrow range of items in my drawer-ful of corkscrews, and have broken several others.”
She is merely the most prominent consumer who detests these plastic closures. Synthetics have replaced natural corks at many wineries fed up with musty “corked” wines but not gutsy enough to go directly to screw caps.
The early examples of synthetic corks were hard plugs that were very hard to extract. I know of one Washington State winery that stopped using them because of all the complaints received from seniors who couldn’t open the wines.
The current generation of these wine suppositories come out readily enough but, unlike suppositories, they don’t go in easily. Once the bottle is open, you have to keep consuming or figure out another way to close it until the next time you want a glass. (Tip: Saran Wrap works.)
The bottom line, as Ms. Robinson argued, is that this is not a consumer friendly closure. She related being at a charity wine tasting at which more bottles of wine were opened than were actually needed. Because it was next to impossible to get the plastic stoppers back into the bottles, 20 were poured down the sink. An utter waste.
Now, an Italian brand called Voga is packaging its wines in a brilliantly simple bottle that makes resealing dead easy.
The bottle is an elegant cylinder finished with a screw-on cap. When you unscrew the cap, you find the bottle itself is closed with a synthetic cork. It comes out easily enough. If you don’t finish the wine in one go, you simply close the bottle with the screw-on cap and throw away the plastic closure (which, Ms. Robinson noted, may not be biodegradable, unlike cork).
When all the wine is gone, I am betting that many consumers hang on to the Voga bottle as a vase because it is so attractive.
Screw caps are also efficiently reusable closures but I have yet to see a screw cap bottle in which I wanted to put flowers.
There are two Voga wines in the British Columbia market. The Pinot Grigio ($14.99) was listed earlier this year and the sales are approaching $1 million.
The red, Voga Quattro ($15.99), was listed in October and is also selling very well.
Both represent good value. The Pinot Grigio, produced in northern Italy, is light and refreshing, the sort of wine I like to keep in the fridge for a glass before dinner.
Voga Quattro is a non-traditional blend of Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz and Pinot Noir. It is a bright fruity red, with attractive cherry notes and soft tannins, making it a very quaffable wine.
Friendly wine in a friendly container. What a concept!
John Schreiner is author of British Columbia Wine Country |
