Guala Closures has received two prestigious international Alufoil trophies for its Australian-developed Viiva screw cap, an aluminium closure specifically designed for high pressure sparkling wines (PKN, June 2012, p.16).
The judges awarded the closure top marks in two categories – for product preservation and consumer convenience, noting its originality and performance.
The Viiva closure, launched to market last year, is tested and proven to to withstand 150 psi of pressure and guarantees pressure retention before and after the first opening. Suitable for up to 5GV (Gas Volume) of liquid pressure, it is designed to keep a sparkling wine’s correct level of carbonation (or fizz) for weeks after opening.
“It is good to get a bit of recognition overseas, particularly in Europe which is traditionally a fortress of packaging,” Guala's Australian sales director, Simon Yudelevich, told PKN.
The two trophies follow from similar success by Guala in the same awards last year, in that case for its tamper-evident closures for wine.
Yudelevich said the Viiva closure had enjoyed success since its launch in May last year, when it was introduced as a feature of new packaging for De Bortoli's Trevi and Willowglen sparkling wines.
De Bortoli's sparkling wine range, including its Trevi (above) and Willowglen brands, have seen sales pick up since adopting the Guala Viiva closure.
“We have had a pretty solid 10 months on the market with the closure,” he said. “De Bortoli, for example, has seen sales pick up on their products using the closure.”
Yudelevich said Guala had since entered into discussions with other wine makers to adopt the closures, including Taylors Wines, which is planning to use it on its premium sparkling wines range.
Alufoil judges praised the game-changing nature of the Viiva closures.
“This product, in our opinion, has the great merit of being ‘better than before’. It clearly improves on the existing closure for sparkling wine, in that it can be transported over long distances and stored for lengthy periods without affecting the condition of the product. And for the consumer it is both easy to open and close and clearly tamper evident,” said head judge, Professor Dr Markus Prem, principal of the department of food packaging technology at the University of Applied Sciences Kempten, Germany.
The Alufoil competition, which is ranged across five categories, is organised by the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) and attracted entries from many of the major European aluminium converters, as well as leading industrial designers.
Also featuring in the Alufoil winners' roster was the European Flexibles business of Australia's Amcor, which picked up two awards: for its Formpack advanced blister design in the resource efficiency category; and in the innovation category for its Alufix Dry Smart foil lidding.
“The key element to resource efficiency is to reduce material content without loss of performance. A radical rethink of a blister design plus two different lidding concepts, admirably demonstrate how this can be achieved,” judges said of the Amcor entries.
