Screw cap or cork? Pick the right wine label to match

Although wine labels are typically placed on the body of the bottle, vintners should pay attention to the neck as well. The way that consumers open the wine, whether it’s through a standard cork or twist-off bottle cap, is another factor to consider when designing and printing packaging.

This is because the “twist” bottle cap can come with a colorful section that covers the neck and matches the label itself. Writing for Fox News, Stephanie Miskew says that so-called “screw caps” are preferable for a variety of reasons.

In addition to being easier for the average consumer to open, these bottles also avoid the contamination that happens when organic corks are so close to wine. A bad cork could even expose the wine to the bacteria TCA.

Corking may have a long history, but Miskew writes that winemakers have a better chance of capturing the pure flavor of their beverage with an air-tight screw cap.

“Bottles sealed with tainted corks can result in a wine smelling like musty, moldy cardboard and the incidence of TCA taint is said to affect between 1 to 3 percent of all wine sealed with cork,” she says.

Anyone looking at bottles that sport this kind of cap notices the sleeve on the neck. If your company decides to employ this design feature, it should make sure that the wine label used is the same color, or one that complements the design.

There are still plenty of reasons to use a cork, but winemakers should invest serious thought into the way they bottle and distribute their vintages. Working with an industrial label printer helps to make the process more cohesive.