Product Differentiation with High Quality Cork is Key to Marketing Unique Wines
Fairfield, CA – Corks of the highest quality from ACI Cork USA are part of the premier packaging used by many wineries in the growing garagiste movement in North America. The AC-1 HAND SELECT tops bottles of Dubost Ranch wines because “we want the very best for our consumers,” according to Kate Dubost, Co-Owner/General Manager of this Paso Robles winery on California’s Central Coast.
Product differentiation is key to marketing garagiste wines and use of high end corks helps distinguish rare, artisanal, small production wines from the not-so-unique thousands of wines in the North American market.
ACI Cork USA provides natural cork bottle stoppers of all grades. The highest quality corks have little or no porosity, tend to be longer, and are preferred for wines destined for aging. The highest grades are AC1-hs (hand select), AC-1/flor, AC-2/extra, AC-3/super. Other corks in the grading system are designated Primero or Segundo.
HAND SELECT, the highest grade of corks representing the top 1 percent of quality, sell from 45 cents to $1.50 each. Because of their density, they ensure less oxygen ingress and as well as less bottle-to-bottle variation. This is highly important for Dubost Wines, whose most recent vintage of all-estate wines totaled 400 cases. Their flagship wines are their Tempranillo and Syrah.
“We buy the best available cork from ACI Cork USA, and this has paid off for us,” said Kate. “We don’t have a problem with tainted corks and so we have never experienced any losses because of TCA taint in our wines.”
Dubost takes great pride in its packaging so it also invests in good graphics and high quality paper for its labels. The family honors their late son Jacob by having ACI print Jacob’s signature on the corks as well as the Dubost logo.
“We garagiste wineries don’t have the advantage of economies of scale, but our customers value our choices in our viticultural practices and our winemaking. We intend to stay small and friendly,” said Kate. “We rely on word of mouth, and high quality packaging is part of keeping our promise to our consumers.” The family operation is also notable for its straw bale winery and tasting room, situated on the 320-acre Dubost Ranch in the historic Adelaida area west of Paso Robles, California.
ACI Cork USA, celebrating our 10th Anniversary in the United States, is located at 2870 Cordelia Road, Suite 150, Fairfield CA 94534. Telephone: (707) 426-3566. www.acicorkusa.com Contact sales@acicorkusa.com
Armando Andrade, General Manager ~ Phil Durrett, Sales Manager ~ Russ Warren, Sales
