17 May,2010 10:36 AM IST | | Kasmin Fernandes
Australian wine producer Reschke has developed Vinolok for its Fume Blanc. The brand worked closely with packaging design consultancy Webb Scarlett DeVlam and supplier Kingfisher Glass to create a bottle that can be reused thanks to the inclusion of a novel glass with a resealable closure.
| Actor Dan Aykroyd holds a bottle of his Crystal Head Vodka at the Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center held in March 2010. Pic/u00a0AFP photo |
Hidden from the consumer at point of sale by the neck seal, the stopper is promoted by an innovative perforated winged tag at the bottle's neck, which can be removed after purchase to ensure the wine's premium positioning is not compromised. Once the contents are consumed and label removed, an attractive etched version of its former label is revealed in a subtle sandblasted-look screen print. "We will continue to push forward with other innovations," Reschke managing director Burke Reschke said.
Plastic screw-capped wine
In an interesting new twist on closures, Tetra Pak company Novembal has introduced the "Novatwist" -- the first premium plastic screw cap for wine. Its advantages over metal screw caps? "The closure is recyclable; and since the closure is torqued on, not rolled on, there is more tolerance for contact and stackability with the plastic. Metal screw caps can become dislodged and the seal broken, if the tops of the bottles are knocked, but plastic is more forgiving. We also anticipate a slight price advantage for the plastic screw caps over metal," said sales manager Marc Kaufman.
| Tetra Pak company Novembal has introduced the Novatwist, the first premium plastic screw cap for wine. Pic/AFP |
India to get wine in a box
Wine traditionalists sneer when vintners replace cork with plastic. They howl in contempt at screwtops. So, what will they make of a California-based company taking an even bolder step: doing away with bottles altogether and replacing them with cardboard tubes? FOUR wine is marketing its Cabernet Sauvignon/Petite Sirah blend in three-litre canisters.
| Y+B Sauvignon Blanc comes in a box |
Beers hotting up
Coors Light beer is using cold-activated bottles to turn up the heat on rivals abroad. The label on the company's Cold Activated Bottle of Coors Light indicates when it's ready for drinking. Thermochromic inks used on the label's white lettering and Rocky Mountain icon turn blue once the beer reaches optimal drinking temperature. According to the company, drinkers tend to keep their refrigerators set to between 40 and 45 F, so the label colour starts to change around 48 F and is at full colour between 40 and 44 F.
| Coors Light temperature-activated bottle turns blue when it's cold enough to guzzle |
Scratch and drink
"At the end of the day, the quality of the beer has to speak for itself; innovation works, gimmicks don't," says Sheikhawat. Take the case of banned Belgian Rubbel Sexy Lager (pic below), bottles of which were stripped off the shelves because they featured a woman with a removable swimsuit on the label. Drinkers could scratch her clothes off to leave her naked.
Collectors' items
Says Santosh Mayekar, co-partner at Bandra wine lounge The Den, "I've been collecting unusual bottles ever since I started drinking in my teens," says Mayekar, who swears by eye-catching bottling. "Sky, Kamasutra and Ballantine whiskies, The Ilay of Jura single malt, Hoegaarden beer, and Ciroc and Belvedere vodkas have bottles so alluring, young drinkers point to them at the bar and say 'I'll have that'. Some even take the bottles home as collector's pieces."
Restaurants and parties are where bottling innovation shine brightest, in this restaurateur's experience. "How the bottle looks may not matter to people who've already developed a taste for one label. But the younger crowd picks up a drink on first impressions."
Corks versus screw cap
Despite the ease of use the screw cap has lent wine bottles, Mayekar still comes across wine cork romantics at restaurants. "More than popping the bottle open, connoisseurs are interested in which part of the world the cork comes from, how old it is, and what it's made of."
"There is a story to tell when you are popping a cork open," says Sumit Jaiswal, manager marketing, Zampa Wines, which retains the old-world cork on premium and reserve brands. For the regular range, however, the winemaker is shifting to screw caps "because a lot of new consumers don't have the right tools to open the bottle".
Tainted drinku00a0
Wine wouldn't quite be the same if it all came in screw-capped bottles. It would, however, be free of cork taint. A wine is corked when it has been in contact with a cork-infected with a fungus that produces 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, otherwise known as TCA. It is this chemical, rather than the fungus itself, that imparts the unpalatable flavours to the wine.
"For years now, the wine industry has been dogged by cork taint," says Cecilia Oldne, international business manager, Sula Vineyards. Possible solutions include screw caps, beer bottle caps, man-made corks and cork sterilisation using microwaves. "Nevertheless, cork taint continues to spoil up to 5 per cent of all bottles of wine," says Oldne, who was readying to represent the winemaker for the first time at the London International Wine Trade Fair, one of the largest in the world.
Screwcaps reduce take-backs
Ever since Sula Vineyards switched to screw caps on all its wines but one -- Sula Rasa -- complaints and take-backs have been reduced to zero. "We haven't received a single complaint of leakage or unpalatable flavour," Oldne says. From 70,000 cases in 2005, Sula Vineyards sold 90,000 cases the year it implemented the screw cap. The figure leaped to 130,000 in 2007 and is expecting to reach 30,40,000 by the end of 2010.
While the screw cap doesn't necessarily bring costs down, Oldne cites other benefits. "Natural corks are imported; screw caps are made in India. A screw cap eliminates the possibility of wine taint from cork. It's a wonderful seal for ensuring great bottle ageing of some white wines."
Braille labels
While the Dutch failed at making beer sexier, leave it to the Germans to find the only unexploited niche in the beer market -- the blind. Dusseldorf's Uerige beer has released new bottles with a Braille label, thus creating the first beer for the blind.u00a0
| Lazarus Wine is made in Spain by people who are visually impaired, and uses the Braille alphabet |
2) With a lighter
Take out your lighter and prop the bottom (NOT the metal top) against the cap's edge.
Gripping the bottleneck tightly, push up on the cap with the edge of your lighter. This should loosen the cap, if not completely pop it off. If it doesn't take the cap off right away, turn the bottle slightly in your hand and apply pressure to another area of the cap.
3) With a key
Grab the bottle in one hand and your key in the other. Use a key whose teeth you can wedge nice and tight between the cap and the bottle's neck. As hard as you can, twist the key under the cap and pull the side of the cap away from the bottle. This will produce a tiny gap between the cap and bottle.
Now that you've got that first gap, repeat this process on another part of the cap to create another gap.
Repeat this process until you get halfway around the cap. By this point, you should be able to simply grip the cap with your fingers and thumb and twist off. If not, keep twisting the key under the cap until you've loosened the cap enough to get that sucker off.
4) With a finger ring
Keeping your ring on, grasp the top of the bottle in your hand. Close your hand over the cap, gripping it so that the edge of your ring is flush against the bottom of the cap. Keeping your grip tight, lift up. The edge of the ring will peel off the cap and open the bottle.
Be wary of using your wedding band. It is one thing to explain to your other half staying out late drinking with your friends. It is a whole different story explaining the gouges in your wedding ring.
5) With another unopened bottle
Simply place the cap of one bottle just under the edge of another bottle's cap. Jerk down hard on the bottle on top -- the cap will pop off against the cap underneath. Drink up. Be sure you have another unopened bottle to help you open the next beer!
India
For the ladies
Sula Dia is a low alcohol wine with a pear-shaped bottle designed especially for women.
France
Beer can that looks like beer glass
With the goal of reinforcing the premium quality of Kronenbourg 1664 while giving the brand a new twist, Brasseries Kronenbourg has teamed up with Crown and French contemporary designer Philippe Starck to launch a stylish aluminum can (see pic). The can is decorated with a silver ink, developed by Crown specifically for this project. The ink creates a 'pearl-like' quality when rotated under light. Pic/ AFP photo
Germany
For the Pope
Bottles of beer specially issued on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to his home region Bavaria were on sale in Munich, Germany. Pic/AFP PHOTO
Denmark
World's priciest beer is a work of art
Jacobsen Vintage No. 1, a limited edition brew developed by Danish brewing giant Carlsberg, is the world's most expensive beer at DKK 2009. All 600 of the green, 375 ml bottles come with one of four lithographs created by Danish artist Frans Kannik. Each of the hand-etched images depicts fables of Sif, the wife of Thor, and a symbol of strength commonly used by J.C. Jacobsen, the company's founder, himself. The beer notwithstanding, each bottle is worth nearly $100.
The one bottle that's unlikely to change
No matter how far innovation gets, the one bottle that is unlikely to change is the celebratory champagne.
Popping the cork off a bottle of bubbly is as much part of the romance as sipping it. The bottle design was born as much out of necessity as of style. The thick glass, with its gently sloping shoulders and a deep punt (the indentation on the underside), are necessary as the pressure inside the bottle is 80-90 psi (three times the pressure inside an average car tyre).
But then, maybe not...
An Australian New Zealand winery though, is reaching for a bottle opener to pop the cap off their bubbles. This week, Villa Maria Estate winery released methode traditionelle under a crown seal, like a beer bottle, and not a traditional cork. Marlborough winemaker Murray Cook said there had been a mixed reaction to the cap since Villa Maria's first chardonnay Pinot Noir mix bubbly had been released this year. He said it was a cheaper alternative to using the corks but insists that was not the reason Villa used the caps.
How to uncork a champagne bottle like a pro:
>>Remove the foil from the cork.
>>Untwist the wire restraint securing the cork.
>>Wrap the bottle's neck and cork in a dish towel.
>>Angle the bottle away from everyone.
>>Take hold of the cork with the towel and gently untwist.
>>Continue untwisting, or hold the cork in place and twist the bottle itself.
>>Slowly ease the cork out of the bottle's neck. Listen for the pop and pour.
