Delicato to Eliminate Natural Corks; Fastest Growing California Winery Announces Complete Transition to Alternative Closures.

NAPA, Calif. -- Delicato Family Vineyards has announced it is completely eliminating natural corks and taking its entire portfolio of brands to alternative closures. Delicato, recently named fastest growing among California's top ten wineries, is the largest American winery to make this change.

Like most wineries, Delicato has seen 5 to 8 percent spoilage due to natural cork closures. "That is an unacceptable percentage for us and our good customers," said Steve Morgan, Vice President of Marketing. "We know of no other industry that accepts a five percent failure rate due to closures."

The winery has been testing alternative closures for more than five years. Delicato is currently using synthetic corks, screw caps and bag-in-the- box technology, and has already produced about one million cases with these alternative closures. According to the winery, the transition is consistent with its philosophy of creating and growing brands that meet changing consumer preferences.

"This large family winery has been highly innovative, rolling out a premium 'bota' (box) and new lifestyle brands ... at consumer friendly prices," said the authoritative Gomberg/Fredrickson Report. This report recently named Delicato "fastest growing" among California's top ten wineries.

Delicato chose NuKorc to provide synthetic corks for most of their bottled wines. NuKorc is an industry leader in the manufacture and supply of "new technology" synthetic closures. For screwcap wines, Delicato chose the elegant closures from Alplast.

"Distributors, retailers, and buyers have encouraged us to add more screw cap wines to our portfolio based on consumer acceptance," Morgan stated. As a result, Delicato anticipates bottling more wines with screw caps during the coming year.

Delicato Family Vineyards' alternative packaging also includes a popular Bota Box line of award-winning premium wines in a box. It consists of a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon packaged in an innovative, compact 3.0L Bota Box retailing for about $17.99. Each Bota Box contains the equivalent of four 750ml bottles stored in a collapsible bag. Wine is poured through an easy-to-use tap and remains fresh for up to 45 days after opening. Delicato sources their bags and taps from Scholle, who is the inventor of the bag-in-box packaging concept.

For more than 80 years the Indelicato family has been growing quality wine grapes while assembling a portfolio of world-class, estate vineyards. Today, the Delicato winery harvests thousands of acres across the top regions of California. These vineyards include the San Bernabe Vineyard in Monterey, the most diverse single vineyard in the world, and the Clay Station Vineyard located in the rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains east of Lodi, California.