Kwik Kork All Set To Get Tipplers' Seal Of Approval
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday August 7, 1996
HUON HOOKE reports on a revolutionary way to open wine bottles without a corkscrew.
CORK has been used to plug wine bottles for centuries, and there have been few changes to the way it looks to the drinker. Screw caps, swing tops and crown seals have all been tried as marketers try to differentiate their product. But cork still dominates.
To remove a cork, you've always needed an extractor, such as a corkscrew. But last week a revolutionary new cork was launched by Alambie, a wine company based in Victoria's Murray Riverland. Called Kwik Kork, it needs no extractor tool. The "handle" is built into the cork: all it takes is two fingers to pluck the cork from the bottle.
Alambie is trialing Kwik Kork on its newly-released 1996 Castle Crossing Colombard Chardonnay, a $6 to $7 wine which, by a happy coincidence for Alambie, won a silver medal at the recent Brisbane Wine Show - a triumph for a humbly-priced wine.
To open it, you simply remove the plastic capsule by tearing a tab - as you already do with many wines - lift a plastic disk which you'll find on top of the cork, and it will rise about 13 millimetres, leaving room for you to put two fingers under it and pull. The cork, a full-size one-piece cork, comes out more easily than a conventional cork.
How does it work? Well, it really is every simple. Kwik Kork, invented by a Canadian winemaker, is a conventional cork with a cylindrical well in the centre, into which a plastic sleeve is pushed. The plastic puller slips into the sleeve, engaging with it as you pull.
If nothing else, it has great novelty value! The main practical advantage is that no corkscrew is needed, which is useful if you're picnicking or fishing and you've forgotten to pack a corkscrew. But if you've forgotten the corkscrew, you're hardly likely to have remembered to bring a bottle of the one wine that features Kwik Kork!
And at present, there is only one. Alambie may of course use Kwik Kork with other wines in future, and it also markets the Salisbury Estate and Milburn Park wines. The inventor, David Hojnoski, has given Alambie the exclusive Australian and Pacific Rim rights for an unspecified period. And Alambie's managing director Philip Brand is busy selling it to European and American wineries.
Mr Brand sees many uses for it, such as airlines, hotels (where corkscrews are constantly "walking" from mini-bars) and the surprising number of ordinary people who are intimidated by what they feel is the awkwardness and difficulty of extracting a cork. After the first time, they should have no fear of the Kwik Kork. And it makes exactly the same pop as a normal cork. It will please people who complain that wine should be openable with two bare hands, like most beverages.
Alambie is a company going places. It has 623 hectares of vines under its control and sells 200,000 cases of wine a year. In just six years on the market, it's become our 10th largest wine company. Bulk wine is 85 per cent of its business, especially exports to Canada, Sweden, Finland and Britain. Bulk sales will decrease as more wine goes into Alambie's own growing brands. But it was through exporting to Canada that Alambie winemaker Bob Shields built up a close relationship with Mr Hojnoski, which led to this world first: the chance to trial the Kwik Kork.
The Castle Crossing Colombard Chardonnay is light yellow in hue and has a "fruit salad" aroma. The taste is light, unwooded, soft yet fresh and clean with a dry finish. It would go well with salads and cold seafood. Better buy a dozen, as everyone will want to try pulling a Kwik Kork!
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
