Union Wine Company
Apologies to Robert Frost, but something there is that doesn’t love a can. Picture an idyllic picnic with a caprese salad, pâté, country ham, a fresh baguette...and cans of pinot noir?
Yes, absolutely, says Molly Moran of Atwood Avenue’s Table Wine. “The interest in wine in cans is super high. It’s not ubiquitous yet, but I think it will be.”
Cans are appealing for camping and summer picnics, fall tailgates and backpacking and leaf-peeping outings, because they’re light, portable and welcome in venues that ban glass.
“From the winemaker’s standpoint, you don’t have the risk of the wine being tainted by a cork,” Moran notes.
To her surprise, the biggest reason her customers buy wine in cans is because they prefer the smaller sizes. Table Wine carries 375 mL cans, equivalent to a half bottle of wine, and a smaller 250 mL can, about a glass and a half of wine. “If you’re the only person in the house, you don’t have to open a bottle of wine and not finish it,” says Moran.
Moran characterizes most wine in cans as “approachable everyday wines.” She likes Underwood, a product of the Union Wine Company of Tualatin, Oregon. “They started cans to go with the food truck scene in Portland. We stock their Rose Bubbles — I could not keep that on the shelf this summer — their pinot noir, and a white blend called Get It Girl, from which Underwood donates all of its profit to Planned Parenthood.”
Wayne Crokus of Steve’s Wine Beer and Spirits says that wine in cans is “here, it’s booming, and it’s not going away.”
Crokus credits the beer industry for doing “good research and development in getting cans that don’t make anything taste like it comes from a can.” He also notes that cans are less expensive packaging than bottles and, because of their lighter weight, cheaper to transport. “I’m surprised that one of the big wineries hasn’t yet got hold of the idea it and run with it,” says Crokus.
Crokus sells Underwood wines at Steve’s as wells as varieties from Alloy and Foxie.
While some people still prefer to pour canned wine into a glass, it is meant to be drunk from the can — though Crokus reminds people the volume in what looks like a can of soda amounts to half a bottle of wine.
He also favors chilled whites. “I don’t know if it’s the psychological effect of drinking a room temperature red wine out of a can, but pinot noir is probably the lowest one on my totem pole. Typically when you’re drinking something out of a can, it’s cold.”
In addition to Underwood and Alloy, Square Wine Company sells a Pét-Nat from Onward — it’s a little pricier than many canned wines at $12.50 for 375mL. It’s a dry, sparkling white champagne-like in its effervescence (the name comes from Pétillant Naturel, the method of fermentation). Because the fermentation process finishes in the can, notes Square Wine owner Andrea Hillsey, every one — bottle or can — is slightly different. The Pét-Nat, she says, is “the session beer of the wine world, just a little lower in alcohol, really drinkable. It’s meant to be enjoyed.”
