America pops the top on vin de can
Like screw-tops before it, canned wine’s favor grows
It’s never too late to crack open a can of chardonnay.
This summer, millions of wine drinkers ditched corks and slipped a can of wine in to-go bags. Canned wine is a booming, if relatively new, sector of the wine business in the USA. Nielsen reported a more than 125% increase in sales of canned wine alone in the past year. Sales went up to $14.5 million from $6.4 million the previous year. A new study featured in Wine
Spectator from the Texas Wine Marketing Institute found that in a small focus group of wine drinkers, followed by a national poll of 21- to 39-year-olds, canned wine “generally had the highest overall perceptions of (wine) quality based on the packaging.”
The trend is new, but the idea is not: Sofia Mini blanc de blancs have long been served in diminu- tive pink cans (straw glued to the side), and Trader Joe’s has sold canned wine since 2009.
The concept is finally fermenting. No longer relegated to eye rolls at the supermarket, Millennials and wine drinkers on the go have made four-packs of wine a must-pack for hiking, camping and beach trips.
“I like that it looks fun and a bit tacky, but when you try it, the wine is actually great,” says Jeffrey Masters, 27, host of the podcast LGBTQ&A, which premieres on iTunes in September. “Each can is half a bottle, so they’re deceptively small.”
It doesn’t hurt that vintners are uncorking the good stuff.
Take the California-based Field Recordings winery, which first tested cans of their varietals in October 2014. “We were kind of joking around when we thought about first doing it, and the more I researched, it seemed like a pretty good idea,” says owner/winemaker Andrew Jones, who has seen his Alloy Wine Works and Fiction labels of canned grenache rosé, pinot noir and chardonnay leap in production from 2% to 40% in two years. Fans say convenience is king. “It’s one-stop shopping as you don’t need a wine opener, glasses or bottle,” says publicist Carly Haller, 27. “It’s also a perfect portion, so everyone can buy whatever kind they like and have enough for a couple of glasses’ worth.”
True, some traditional wine enthusiasts are holding out, but Oregon-based Union Wine, which makes the popular Underwood line of canned wine, aims to change perception.
Its wine is offered in both cans and bottles. “We regularly do blind tastings with them, and for the most part, we tend to get them wrong,” says Heather Wallberg, marketing manager for Union Wine. Business is booming. “We’ve tripled our production from where we started this year, and we still haven’t made enough,” she says. “The rosé we can’t make enough of. It flies.”
Though the repackaged libation may have a way to go before it hits mainstream acceptance — just think what screw-tops had to go through before gaining grudging respect — it’s making a sizable impact on retailers.
Canned wine is still “an infant,” says Doug Bell, head buyer for Whole Foods, noting that canned wine is less than 1% of total retail wine sales. “It’s tiny. But those sales are up 1,000%.” Bell cites the success of Presto, a canned Italian sparkling wine, and West Side Wine, which offers canned chardonnay and cabernet. “It’s the fastest-trending wine subcategory in our industry.”
Will trendy aluminum cans of cabernet find their way into coolers when football season starts? “The $64,000 question,” Bell says.