Unified Wine and Grape Symposium
Strange name – great event. This is THE wine industry trade show of the year in the USA. Every major wine related vendor shows up in Sacramento in January to pitch their wares. We went to meet the people that will help us fill our shopping list.
Our list included packaging supplies like cork, capsules, labels, bottles and boxes. These things cost anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars each – but we go through thousands of them.
I can’t begin to tell you how many closure vendors were there (cork and cork substitutes). Every time we turned around there was another. Their competing pitches revolve around threats like TCA and Oxygen permeability, and molded versus extruded. Then the natural cork guy pulls out his sample board and starts explaining that all of his corks will seal a bottle of wine, but they grade the cork based on visual attributes. The most attractive sell for roughly ten times more than the less attractive. Now it’s about marketing and product positioning.
There were just as many capsule vendors. Capsules are the plastic or tin covers on the neck of wine bottles. Here, there are 3 different materials to consider – PVC, Polylam, and tin. To learn more than you ever wanted to know about capsules, check out this article and survey from Wine Business Monthly.
And our list included big ticket items like pumps, presses, sorting lines, destemmers, and bottling lines. Picture large, imported, stainless steel devices – and you’ll understand why these items cost many thousands of dollars each. Even for a small winery like ours, we need several pieces of equipment that top $10,000 each.
If there is a silver lining to this, it is the fact that most of this equipment holds its value. Used versions readily sell for 85% - 100% of the original purchase price. That’s some consolation.
Strange name – great event. This is THE wine industry trade show of the year in the USA. Every major wine related vendor shows up in Sacramento in January to pitch their wares. We went to meet the people that will help us fill our shopping list.
Our list included packaging supplies like cork, capsules, labels, bottles and boxes. These things cost anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars each – but we go through thousands of them.
I can’t begin to tell you how many closure vendors were there (cork and cork substitutes). Every time we turned around there was another. Their competing pitches revolve around threats like TCA and Oxygen permeability, and molded versus extruded. Then the natural cork guy pulls out his sample board and starts explaining that all of his corks will seal a bottle of wine, but they grade the cork based on visual attributes. The most attractive sell for roughly ten times more than the less attractive. Now it’s about marketing and product positioning.
There were just as many capsule vendors. Capsules are the plastic or tin covers on the neck of wine bottles. Here, there are 3 different materials to consider – PVC, Polylam, and tin. To learn more than you ever wanted to know about capsules, check out this article and survey from Wine Business Monthly.
And our list included big ticket items like pumps, presses, sorting lines, destemmers, and bottling lines. Picture large, imported, stainless steel devices – and you’ll understand why these items cost many thousands of dollars each. Even for a small winery like ours, we need several pieces of equipment that top $10,000 each.
If there is a silver lining to this, it is the fact that most of this equipment holds its value. Used versions readily sell for 85% - 100% of the original purchase price. That’s some consolation.
posted by SeufertWinery at
1:04 PM
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