Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/670021
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a y - J u n e 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 4 5 the premium wine market," says Malcolm Thompson, chief innova- tion officer at Nomacorc. Thomp- son notes that, in addition to being TCA-free, the closure is also green. "Like Select Bio, it's made from sustainable, sugar cane-based tech- nology," he says. Zest was launched in Italy and France in 2015 and will be avail- able in the United States this year. "There's a lot of interest in it and it has great growth opportunities," Thompson says. GREEN CAPSULES Whereas a standard polylami- nate capsule uses polyethylene derived from petroleum, Rivercap's new Absolute Green Line uses a sustainable source instead. "The Absolute Green Line uses poly- ethylene that's derived from sugar cane," explains Jeremy Bell, gen- eral manager at Cork Supply USA (Benicia, Calif.). "It's completely tors in the Netherlands and Guala Closures Group in Italy, announced they were collaborating to develop a next generation "smart closure." "It's not about one particular prod- uct but really about different solu- tions for different types of closures within the wine and spirits markets," says Sylvia Kaiser-Kershaw, product marketing lead at NXP's Global Seg- ment Marketing. By incorporating radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near field c o m m u n i c a t i o n ( N F C ) t e c h n o l - ogy, the closure would act as an anti-counterfeiting, anti-tampering device, letting consumers instantly verify the provenance and integrity of the product. Additionally, by tap- ping the bottle with an NFC smart- phone, consumers can receive more information about the product as well as special offers. The technology is currently in a research and development phase. "The chip alone obviously doesn't help," Kaiser-Kershaw says. "The green." Bell also notes that the ink used on the capsule is water-based. T h e r e s u l t i s c a p s u l e s t h a t aren't just carbon neutral, they're net negative, too. "Planting sugar cane, you're absorbing CO 2 ," Bell says. "Then you're using a bio- based polyethylene, so you're not using petroleum, either." Rivercap estimates the annual production of the Absolute Green Line capsules would absorb carbon emissions equal to the annual electric con- sumption of 682 U.S. households. While Bell expects tin capsules to continue to rule the high-end market, he says the Absolute Green Line could appeal to a certain subset of wineries. "The target really is any winery that wants to make a state- ment about environmental aspects and sustainability," Bell says. A NEW "SMART" CLOSURE? In January, two giants in their respective fields, NXP Semiconduc- Thanks to All the Great Customers !!!