In the Can
The wine industry is embracing aluminum.
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of wine in cans is how long it took wineries to start using a container that seems perfect for the task. Beer first appeared in cans in 1935, but Coppola didn’t start putting its Sofia Blanc de Blancs in cans until 2003, the first winery to do so. The cans started showing up on Oklahoma City wine lists in 2008, but it would take another seven years before wine drinkers in the state took the format seriously.
“Underwood rosé tipped the scale,” Corey Bauer, general manager of Thirst Wine Merchants, said. “We started selling Underwood in 2014, and in early 2015, things started to change. People liked the rosé, and millennials didn’t care what package it came in.”
Underwood also hit at the perfect time trend-wise. Rosé was finally starting to catch on, and whereas in 2008, only about twenty SKUs of dry rosé were available in the state, that number had more than tripled by 2015. Cans and rosé — one of the least expensive styles of wine available — came of age together at a time when Americans seemed to care far less about the status implied by a bottle, a cork and a white tablecloth.
“Getting people to buy cans was hard at first, because Americans had rarely drank wine outside of white tablecloth settings,” Bauer said. “Twist-off caps were the first move away from that romantic idea of what wine is supposed to be. Cans were second.”
While Underwood helped shape the market in Oklahoma, three companies were driving the market nationwide: Dark Horse, Field Recordings and Essentially Geared. All three brands are now available in cans in the state. Grant Hemingway, Essentially Geared’s owner and winemaker, was in Oklahoma City in early June to introduce the brand. Given the quality of the wine, it will not need much help.
“This is wine that is meant to be in cans,” Hemingway said. “You can’t just make wine one way and then put it in any container. When wine goes into a bottle, it will still develop over time. Not so in a can. You have 24 months of shelf life, and then it’s not good anymore.”
Hemingway was the winemaker and general manager at Mason Cellars before it was sold to Sutter Home. He invested the money he made from the sale — he won’t say how much — into Essentially Geared. That a Napa winemaker with a pedigree like Hemingway’s invested in cans should be a strong indicator of what’s to come in the wine industry. Indeed, he is not the only big name getting involved, and that investment helps tremendously with the acceptance of wine in cans.
Andrew Jones of Field Recordings is one of the hottest winemakers in the world. His particular specialty is seeking out overlooked or misunderstood properties and turning them into fantastic wine. Beginning in 2014, he released canned wines under two labels, Fiction and Alloy, including Methode Aluminum sparkling wine under the Alloy label. In 2017, Tangent, a well-respected winery in Appellation Wine Company’s family of wineries, started producing wine in cans, too.
The participation of “serious” winemakers has certainly helped the product’s reputation across the U.S., but as Hemingway points out, trends usually lead to inferior products being marketed well to capitalize on the hype.
“A great package helps to sell a wine,” Hemingway said, “but it’s the wine that matters. The ‘big names’ have helped the profile of canned wine, but I like to think great wine in a can has helped, too.”
Sorting through the glut of choices can be daunting, but those “big names” do help light the way. There are now more than 70 canned wines available in Oklahoma, but the market leaders do stand out from the crowd.
For sparkling wine, Essentially Geared Chenin Blanc and Methode Aluminum Pinot Noir are top of the heap. The best canned wines available now are whites, and there are several to choose from, including Dark Horse, Essentially Geared, Alloy, Tangent, Field Recordings Hans Gruner, and Lila. Una Lou rosé from Scribe is easily the best rosé available in a can, but Dark Horse and Alloy are excellent as well.
Red wine is harder to pull off in a can. The entries to the market, with a few exceptions, have not been great. The tendency to refrigerate cans out of habit certainly does not help, but some can handle a modest chill. Look for Essentially Geared and Alloy for red.
Buying canned wine in a restaurant or bar can be a little confusing. The cans are typically equal to a half bottle, so the cost will be roughly the same as two glasses of wine.
This is also important information if you’re driving.
Cans should come in about $10 to 15 at a bar or restaurant. Good selections are available at retail locations like Spirit Shop in Norman, Broadway Wine Merchants and Freeman’s in Oklahoma City, and Edmond Wine Shop.