DIAM gets Tesco's seal of approval

Tesco has approved DIAM as a preferred closure for its own-label wines.

Along with screwcap and high-grade natural cork, the supermarket giant has now given the green light to DIAM, which is a natural cork closure given a special CO2 treatment that removes any undesirable compounds like trichloroanisole (TCA) – the substance responsible for cork taint.

Dean Banister, sales director for Oeneo Closures, which makes DIAM, told ThirtyFifty, ‘We’ve been accepted by the most important retailer in the world as a preferred closure. From a company perspective, this gives us a lot of credibility.’ He added that the company has been working for five years or so with Tesco, so this decision means DIAM is being trusted along with screwcap as a closure that preserves the aromas of a wine.

He said, ‘For Tesco, the important thing is that people can assess a wine on the real merits of the wine and not whether it is a good or bad bottle. It’s about presenting the wine to the consumer in the best possible condition.’

DIAM was developed using the technology that takes caffeine out of coffee. To create the closure, natural cork is granulated into a powder and then cleaned, using a CO2 treatment. This removes components that could impart off-flavours to a wine without leaving a residue. The ‘clean’ cork ‘flour’ is then rebuilt, producing a closure that gives consistency, ‘so no bottle variation,’ explained Dean.

DIAM closures can also offer different levels of oxygen transfer, depending on the type of wine they are to seal and whether it is destined for short- or longer-term ageing.