July 25, 2017 – When Sabrine Rodems, winemaker at Wrath in the Santa Lucia Highlands, first heard about wine in cans, she laughed it off. “Another silly trend!” she thought. In fact, she admits, “If you told me two years ago that I’d be making wine in cans, I’d have said you were crazy. No way!”
Then her boss, owner Michael Thomas came to her with a wacky idea. How about let’s broaden our wine portfolio into some new areas? He suggested cans. She was plenty skeptical, but they started thinking about how they might add a bit of class to the increasing number of offerings in this category.
As they did their research, they tried lots of wine in cans: some abysmal, most pretty lame. They felt they had a niche to fill and made the gamble to go for it and create a canned 375ml premium wine in four-packs that sells for $32. It’s the equivalent of two bottles of wine, as each can is half a bottle. Each can sells for $7.50 – $7.99, definitely in the premium category.
For the initial offering, Rodems decided to take their estate Sauvignon Blanc to a new level, something that would pleasantly surprise people who hadn’t had her Wrath wines before, and something that would eminently please those who were already familiar with her winemaking style. It was a bit tricky trying to tame the acidity in this naturally sassy and vivacious hussy, and she worried that it wouldn’t pass the test a wine must go through before it is “canned.” If the acidity is too high, it can corrode the can.
Starting with riper Sauv Blanc fruit from block 1 of their SIP certified organic vineyard, the wine ended up with a slightly richer mouthfeel than the estate bottled version of the fruit.
When the wine was greenlighted for processing, which surprised and delighted Sabrine, the mobile canning truck showed up and put 400 cases of vintage 2016 into lightweight aluminum cans with a slick wraparound label of light grey, black and lime green.
The front of the label simply bears the letters AL and a number 13 in the upper left, along with 2016 sauvignon blanc, Monterey County, all in lower case letters. If you studied your periodic table in high school, you’ll understand that his nomenclature refers to aluminum, element 13.
Soon, AL was on its way to country clubs, parks and golf courses where glassware is verboten around pools. Locally, it can be purchased at Wrath’s tasting rooms in Carmel Plaza Shopping Center in Carmel and at the winery at 35801 Foothill Rd. at the junction of River Road in Soledad.
Their distributor is having some success with it, especially in hot weather states, like Texas and Arizona, where they are finding that cans in general are a very popular item.
In fact, says Claire Marlin, Director of Sales for Wrath, one of their customers, Jackson Hole Foods, an upscale grocer in Jackson, Wyoming, can’t keep canned wine on the shelf. “A lot of their customers are buying supplies before they head into Teton Nat’l Park. The brand manager at our Arizona distributor says cans are really popular with the 30 and under crowd, but some retailers aren’t sure how to stock them.”
The battle for shelf space continues unabated, to the consternation of all those poor liquor clerks who have to figure out how to display them.
Given the fact that the canned wine section of your local supermarket is now stocked with brands like Underwood, Infinite Monkey Theorem and MANCAN, it’s no surprise that still wines are now catching up with sparkling, which used to dominate the category. Wine in cans doubled between 2015 and 2016, and shows no sign of letup.
Whole Foods named canned wines a top trend in 2016, and they weren’t making a wild guess. Tangent just launched a Sauvignon Blanc that is SIP-certified and made from 100% estate grown grapes on the Niven Estate in Santa Barbara; they also have a rosé.
What’s next? Rodems says she’d like to make a real rosé, but she’s inclinded to consider an unoaked Chardonnay for 2017. They already plan to double production.
Wrath’s Marlin says, “I think we are at the crest of a wave that’s building. I don’t see canned wines as a fad but as another way to enjoy wine in a convenient package that travels better than bottles and doesn’t remind the drinker of childhood juice boxes like the individual ‘bag in a box!’”
Summer is heating up: time to head for beach, mountains, lakes, rivers and campgrounds, and pack the cans. No glassware or corkscrews needed, and you don’t need to lug around heavy bottles, which weigh a whole lot more than cans when empty.
So what does AL taste like? Right from the first sniff, this saucy Sauvignon Blanc has refreshing aromas and flavors of lime, acacia blossoms, pine, celery seed, guava and winter melon. It grows on you.
Crisp, clean, premium wine in a can? It’s elemental.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
