Rivercap

RIVERCAP

WHERE THE CAP IS ALWAYS THE CROWNING GLORY powered by Inside Food & Drink

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Where the cap is always the crowning glory

As one of the leading producers of capsules for wine and spirits bottles, Rivercap has delivered dynamic, memorable and innovative solutions for its clients for three decades. Business developments and internal mergers are now set to shape Rivercap’s plans to further unscrew its potential on the global stage, outlined General Director Jose Saenz de Santamaria in an interview with Andy Probert.

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ocated at the foot of the Cantabrian Mountains in the beautiful northern Spanish province of La Rioja, Rivercap is a mere sip away from its clients who are at the very heart of the locally-renowned red wine-producing industry.

While Rioja is enjoyed across the globe, Rivercap is also flowing forth as one of the leaders in overcapping capsule solutions for wines and spirits worldwide.

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“We believe at Rivercap that the first impression of any consumer, from the opening bottle ceremony until the final tasting, is essential,” attested General Director Jose Saenz de Santamaria.

“Our customers are becoming more interested in packaging as a key element to help position their products. Selecting the material, its design and the quality of the final product are key for closing a bottle.”

As Mr Santamaria acknowledged, there is a science that has to be perfected behind a capsule that goes beyond simply function.

Its role is critical to ensuring the longevity and taste of a bottle’s contents.

Rivercap, founded in 1990 in Lapuebla de Labarca, offers a range of high-quality capsules, including tin, aluminium, poly laminate and PVC, to cover every aspect of the wine and spirits market. In 2021, it pro-

duced around one billion units, of which 75% were exported to more than 70 countries.

Mr Santamaria said: “We have remained in La Rioja because we have thrived and want to remain close to our clients.”

Meeting rising demand As demand grew for Rivercap’s products and the business faced more complexities, it opened a manufacturing centre in Hendaye, France, and launched poly laminate manufacturing in 2000. The company began exporting to the USA a year later and consolidated that by opening another production centre in Napa Valley, California Having embarked on a joint venture in 2010, Rivercap was eventually acquired by its partner Sparflex, another familyowned company from Champagne in Epernay, France.

Sparflex has been serving the global wine industry for more than 30 years with the

design, production and marketing of superior packaging for still and sparkling wines and spirits. With annual sales exceeding $120 million, the group maintains production facilities in France, Spain, Australia, and the USA. In 2020, Sparflex entered into a strategic agreement with Italy’s Enoplastic Group to create a global leader – Enoflex in wine and spirits closure solutions.

This created the largest global producer of capsules, exporting to more than 70 countries and selling 5.5 billion units to over 6,000 customers.

The €180 million business comprises 13 production sites in six countries; in Italy, France, Spain, the US, New Zealand and Australia, and employs around 1,000 people. Enoflex consolidates its international influence through its various brands Enoplastic, Sparflex, Rivercap, Le Muselet Valentin and Maverick.

Innovative capping solutions Mr Santamaria said the agreement had allowed Rivercap to continue producing its capsule solutions for its diverse clients. Its tin capsule is considered a mark of distinction; the crowning glory of the range as it exudes luxury and elegance and deserves to be atop only the best wines.

A single capsule piece is produced with no seams, and tin is a highly malleable material that adapts to bottles of all shapes and sizes. Rivercap has taken that concept further, creating its own branded Label Pure Tin to denote the genuineness of the product.

Mr Santamaria asserted: “It is a guarantee to wine and spirit professionals and connoisseurs of the highest quality capsules with certified provenance.

“For producers of wine and spirits at the very top of their range, the Pure Tin capsule represents their excellence, passion and

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perfection from the vineyard to the point of serving. The seal wraps the fruits of their labours, their authenticity and the very culture of wine.”

The Pure Tin capsule has been utilised by leading figures in the wine industry, such as famed consultant oenologist Patrick León; Argentinian Sommelier and 2015 Best Sommelier of the Americas Paz Levinson; Hubert Boüard, owner of Château Angélus; and Tim Gaiser, Master Sommelier and Professor at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone, in California.

Rivercap’s single-piece aluminium capsule, formed with the same techniques used to create tin capsules, is also regarded as a premium product that offers a refined finish while also being highly recyclable.

Made in two pieces, the polylaminate capsule option is a perfect marriage between aluminium and polyethylene, and is the most popular. It offers unlimited colours, shades and many possibilities of finish.

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Among these offerings, Rivercap offers a truly ecological alternative, the Absolute Green Line, a polylaminate capsule that combines bio-based polyethylene (PE) with acrylic inks, with renewable materials replacing oil and solvents.

Mr Santamaria said: “Belonging to Enoflex enables Rivercap to have a global platform from which to reach even more clients in the wine and spirits industries.

We are proud that Rivercap is the only production site within the group specialised in the production of tin capsules.”

Sustainable approach As part of recent consolidation within the Enoflex Group, Rivercap now sits atop two other subsidiaries, Vintacap and EnoMed, employing 200 people. This will bring three companies under the same umbrella, with two production centres.

“This move will help us cover the fullest spectrum of the sectors: still wine, sparkling wine and olive oil,” detailed Mr Santamaria.

“Our mission and vision fully reflects the group’s three main milestones: sustainability, customer satisfaction and added value to the capsule solution.

“The formation will enable us to look at innovation, research, develop our solutions with new materials and have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint of Rivercap, Vintacap and EnoMed. This is because we are building for the future and looking at a new generation of capsules, rather than just for the short-term. It is an ambitious plan to be more efficient and demonstrate our potential.”

Mr Santamaria revealed Rivercap initially believed the pandemic would have a major impact on business, but “not in the way we thought”.

He explained: “We maintained production and weren’t seriously affected. We anticipated a 30-50% drop, but if anything, Rivercap maintained its position because of domestic consumption rising during lockdown. We did not stop one single day and

Director, Jose Saenz de Santamaria

continued working without interruption.

It was fascinating and we grew by 7% in volume.”

Going forward, he said the company was planning to invest heavily in 2022 in a new heating system to reduce and reuse its emissions within the La Rioja plant as part of its commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability.

Another aim will be to enhance and expand sales in the US market, with Mr Santamaria adding: “We will continue to bring added-value to clients, but this will need to be linked to responsibility in the sector.

“Responsibility is more important than having a market share. This covers all the

angles of growing sustainably and ethically, but with reduced packaging impact and emissions footprint.”

Capping happiness The group has also formed ‘Be Green’ – a group of people from across its production sites – which seeks to promote efficiencies and better ideas of working across the plants globally.

“Rivercap are experts in the capping sector, and our clients highly trust us,” stated Mr Santamaria. “That breeds confidence, and builds business relations.

Having that reputation, everything flows

from that trust. We want to remain close to clients as wine culture is different all over the world.”

He concluded: “We are very passionate about the product, and it is a fun sector to be in because we are capping happiness when it comes to memorable occasions, but we also want to be sustainable and responsible.” n

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