Cork Industry

Questions

1

To what extent is the cork industry guilty of complacency and a lack of innovation?

The cork industry is guilty of lack of motivation and complacency because they did not recognize the changes that were about to happen in the wine industry over the years. The wind industry was undergoing a new era where new producers from Chile, Australia, and California had new and diverse requirements, after that it took only a matter of years for the industry to change entirely and the cork industry did not notice these changes when they needed to. Ding this allowed for their competition to get the edge they needed to advance.

2

If consumers love corks, why are the producers not providing what their customers want?

The reason they are not providing consumers with they want is because the wine industry has transformed expressively over the past few decades. The historical foremost producers of Europe; Spain, France, Italy, and Germany are being tested by new wine manufacturers such as California, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, etc. The new marketers have developed international wine brands which have reformed the wine marketplace. The international brand has required a dependable product with minute difference. Unlike the old-style wine product which had a degree of variety reliant on on the grape, the climate and production. Also the buyers were changing due to supermarket chains.

3

Is it wine quality or costs that have driven producers to synthetic?

Cost has a very big part of it, but it also has to do with quality. Synthetic corks started to let in dangerous amounts of oxygen after about 18 months, which means they are really suitable only for the most basic wines for early consumption. In terms of costs, synthetic was initially more expensive than natural cork, but fierce competition between different manufacturers and economies of scale have brought synthetic cork prices down; rising oil prices has put pressure on this but, generally, a...