Imagine a candlelit dinner. Close your eyes and listen to the sound of Cork which is extracted little by little from the neck of the bottle, while the wine begins to gurgle gurgling in the glasses, without haste, waiting for a romantic toast. Now close your eyes, and try to visualize the same scene without that cork. With a wine from the screw capin short, of those that simply open with a pressure and a rotation of the hand. The detail may not seem relevant, but the atmosphere would be completely different. And so, apparently, also the perception of the taste and prestige of the wine itself.
Cork and wine quality: the test
This is emphasized by a study carried out by Neuromarketing Research Center "Behavior and Brain LabIulm" of Milan on behalf of APCOR, the Portuguese Association that brings together the cork producers. The objective of the survey was to evaluate the role of the cork in the perception of the bottle that is about to open and taste, in an attempt to understand whether (and how much) the presence of a cork can actually suggest greater product quality. To do this, the Milanese university has selected a sample of 32 people aged between 20 and 65, with different professions, educational qualifications, incomes and wine consumption habits.
First he was made to listen to them simply noise a cork stopper that is extracted and a screw cap that is removed from the bottle. Both the encephalogram performed during the test and the questionnaire presented after the experiment confirmed that the cork was able to arouse more positive feelings. Even before the tasting, in short. The second phase, on the other hand, also concerned the tasting. The people involved were shown opening two bottles, one with a screw cap and one with a cork: although both contained the exact same wine, the encephalogram revealed that that contained in the bottle with cork stopper was generally more appreciated. At least on a purely emotional level.
The cap, an important choice
"This confirms that the perception of the value and quality of a wine is also influenced by the cork it presents", he underlines Carlos Veloso dos Santos, general manager of Amorim Italia. "It will be for the gesture, it will be for the noise, it will be because for us Italians wine is still a product strongly linked to tradition and culture. Of course, then we should talk about oxygenation and properties that the cork stopper can guarantee and even transmit to certain types of wine, effectively improving its characteristics, but it would be a completely different matter. What LabIulm research has shown is that cork is still closely linked, even on a psychological level, to premium wine segment. What in our country continues to grow year after year, in short: this must make us think, for example, who in wine companies is involved in wine packaging. Because to better communicate its product to consumers will have to choose the bottle, the label and, of course, the most suitable cap .
