Bottles, Boxes, and Cans: The Future of Wine

The Future of Wine is Here

The wine world is filled with varietals, sommeliers, decanting, and a bunch of other terms and practices that can make navigating it intimidating. Perhaps because wine has traditionally been made in European countries and christened with names that trouble the average American tongue, those who take drinking the fermented beverage too seriously are often labeled with words such as snob and pretentious. Casual drinkers might not be too concerned with details like which wine glass is best, but they still have to decide if they prefer their reds and whites from Old World or New World wineries.

Wine drinkers, casual and dedicated alike, also have to contend with a growing variety of packaging choices and the stigmas that come along with some of them. The wine bottle1 we know today didn't begin to emerge until the early 19th century, but bottles and corks have since been held up as the paragon of wine packaging. In recent years, the cork's throne has been threatened by an alternative closure and more portable packaging that does away with the bottle itself.

From Corks to Screw Caps

Despite its time-honored place in bottled wine, the cork closure's imperfections2 and even a risk of tainting the wine left it vulnerable to potentially better substitutes. Plastic, synthetic, and even glass corks emerged as replacements, newer options that still suffer from their own drawbacks. These range from consumer suspicion regarding manmade materials and concerns about the synthetic materials not being able to properly expand and contract with the bottle to beliefs that such toppers are too low-brow for expensive vintages.

The screw cap has actually been used to seal wine bottles since the 1970s.3 A French manufacturer provided the new closure to Australian wineries, but consumer enthusiasm lagged until screw cap closures stopped being synonymous with low-quality wines. As that association continues to wane, cheap wines aren't the only ones getting the screw cap4 treatment.

Because price often dictates expectation, consumers tend to correlate price with quality, which isn't always fair or accurate. Boxed wine, which is cheaper than buying individual bottles, has been battling against that reputation5 in more recent years, as brands with more refined reputations than the much-maligned but persistently popular Franzia have found their way onto shelves in America. Black Box, Bota Box, From the Tank, and Wineberry are among those providing Americans with affordable boxed wine that doesn't remind us of college. Boxed wine is still catching on6 with the masses, with more than a dozen brands enjoying sales of around a million dollars in 2014.

"Aluminating" the Wine Industry

The rising popularity of screw caps and boxed wine left the industry ripe for more change, and it was only a matter of time before wine found its way into cans. Australian brand Barokes pioneered the wine-in-can technology7 in the early 2000s, but the convenient packaging has finally caught on in the United States. Several canned wine brands are growing in popularity, some of which are targeting specific niches or directly challenging the perceived snobbery of wine.

Underwood, a canned wine brand produced by Union Wine Co. in Oregon, was originally tested in 20138 at Feast Portland, paired with a tongue-in-cheek "Pinkies Down" campaign. However, Union Wine Co. doesn't spend much time thumbing its nose at bottled wine. Instead, the brand emphasizes the convenience of wine that can be thrown in a cooler or backpack, framing canned wine as another option for consumers to enjoy and not as a replacement for classic wine.

Infinite Monkey Theorem operates in Denver and in Austin, Texas, and markets itself as an urban winery. The brand eschews traditional wine culture with a tagline that proclaims, "No vineyard. No pretense." Infinite Monkey Theorem is distributed in dozens of states, and like many other wineries offering wine in a can, appeals to both sides of the "Should wine even be in a can?" debate by also packaging its offerings in traditional glass bottles.

Graham + Fisk's Wine-in-a-Can made a splash when it began as Mancan, which has now become the company's "legacy brand" as it shifted to a sleek slim can and more gender-neutral branding for its products. Before the marketing switch, the masculine-package wine secured the company a sponsorship with the Cleveland Browns9 – including custom Cleveland Browns cans – that endured during the company's transition to Graham + Fisk's. This wine-in-a-can company also boasts a "Chill N' Grill Kit" with monthly box brand Pig of the Month and recognition from the International Canned Wine Competition (which has existed since 2019, if you were wondering).

Corks and Cans Coexisting

While it's unlikely that wine enthusiasts will abandon the sacred bottle and cork, those who've had to throw out a half-empty bottle because they failed to finish it in a few days will certainly see the appeal of boxed and canned wine. Some alternative wine packaging might be aimed at knocking wine culture down a notch, but most of it is only meant to give consumers more options for enjoying their favorite fermented beverage in situations that aren't conducive to bottles or stemware.

Screw caps eliminate the need for a corkscrew, a handy solution for party-goers bringing a bottle with them to a place that may not have one laying around. For casual at-home consumption, boxed wine allows drinkers to enjoy their wines for weeks instead of days. Wine in a can is a great choice for enjoying outdoors, after a hike or perhaps at a barbecue; it also has a place poolside, where glass is usually banned, and in laidback bars or venues that want to offer wine without getting caught up in the pomp and circumstance of bottles and stemware. The cork will still be welcomed alongside meals at restaurants casual and upscale alike, as it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to any evening.

Resources

  1. The 8,000 Year Effort To Transport Wine Around The World. VinePair. Accessed May 2022.
  2. Why Some Winemakers Don't Just Put a Cork In It. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed May 2022.
  3. Who Invented The Screwcap?. VinePair. Accessed May 2022.
  4. Screw Caps Go Upscale. Wine Enthusiast. Accessed May 2022.
  5. Will Boxed Wine Ever Make it in America? Eater. Accessed May 2022.
  6. In the Bag: US Thirsty for Box Wine. Wine Searcher. Accessed May 2022.
  7. Cans of Wine Join the Box Set. The New York Times. Accessed May 2022.
  8. Frequently Asked Questions. Union Wine Company. Accessed May 2022.
  9. Mancan cracking the former beer-only domain: Sports marketing. Cleveland. Accessed May 2022.