SEEKING CLOSURE?

Stelvins and corks, watch out!
There’s a new wine closure on the block and it promises to shake things up. Capabunga is a reusable silicone capsule for a wine bottle that’s made to resemble the bungs used in winemaking and will fit on most standard bottles. The concept was created by Máire Murphy and her business partner/husband Walt Averill who both worked in the wine industry for many years and have created and developed negociant brands including Solex Chardonnay. They currently run Wines West, a consulting firm offering services to wineries and suppliers to the industry as well as product development. The idea, which Murphy came up with in the middle of the night, only took about nine months of development to get to market. Capabunga is reusable so it’s less likely to end up in landfills, as most tin and plastic capsules do. It also creates a branding opportunity for wineries and also allows the consumer to see the closure used to seal the bottle. The cost is about 3O¢ per unit, though can be less with large orders. Capabunga is patent pending and is produced by a manufacturing firm in Chicago. Minimum orders are 1O,OOO units, though some customers are banding together to get bigger orders for better pricing.