Talk-A-Vino

Let me start with the question: what do you think of wines in the can?

I’ve seen rather an interesting reaction in social media (both Instagram and Twitter) when I post a picture of the wine in the can. It ranges from “Hmmm” to “Really???” to “How you can even talk about wine in the can???” to “I can’t believe there can be any good wine in the can”. Mind you, this doesn’t come from uninitiated people – wine pros of different walks have a very similar reaction when seeing the reference to the wine in the can. And I find this a bit surprising.

It’s been almost 5 years since I tried my first wine in the can. I don’t think I ever had a question “why wine in the can” (my first reaction was “wow, cool, something new and different!”) – my only question was “is it good?”. A can is just a different form of packaging – nothing more and nothing less. If you follow the subject of wine in the can, I’m sure you saw lots of different reasons and explanations to the question of “why” – “democratize wine”, “pinkies down”, “appeal to millennials” and blah blah blah. Whatever. I don’t think that simply putting wine in the can is the “magic bullet” for anything.

Of course, unique and different packaging helps to appeal to potentially a different category of consumers. But – the wine is binary. You either like it – or not. The proverbial question of the desire of the second glass is the key. Consumers might buy the can for the first time for its unique form. But they have to like it to come back and buy it again.

There is another interesting side of wine in the can in addition to the form factor. Making wine in the can allows winemakers to get ultimately creative, as you can work with a very small batches – and you can do truly uncommon things, such as finishing wine with beer hops or mixing Zinfandel with coffee – I’ve had plenty of oddly interesting concoctions, courtesy of Filed Recordings Can Club, the true pioneers of the wine in the can (Field Recordings Wine and Can club is the only wine club I belong to – because it never gets boring with Andrew Jones). Such a variety is also making it interesting for the curious wine lovers, who always have something new and different to try. And if you like something, you really want to run and grab it, while you can – the flip side of the small batch winemaking is that the wine is gone in no time.

Just to give an example, here are the notes for two of the latest shipments I received this year from the Field Recordings can club. The first one arrived just a few days ago, but I made an effort to familiarize myself with the wines quickly :). In case you are wondering, all these wines are priced at $5 per 375 ml can, so two cans would be somewhat equal to the $10 bottle of wine.

2018 Field Recordings Chardonnay Coquina VIneyard Rancho Arroyo Grande (12.1% ABV, 6 barrels produced) – fresh crunchy plums all the way, sprinkled with the lemon juice and some granny smith apples. Refreshing, round and delightful. Will make a beautiful summer day even better.

2018 Field Recordings Charbono Guglielmo Giovanni Vineyard Paso Robles (11.8% ABV) – how often do you drink Charbono (known in Argentina as Bonarda)? The producer recommended to serve this wine at the cellar temperature  – I had it at a room temperature, and after 5 minutes in the glass (by the way, if you drink at home, feel free to use your favorite glass, you don’t have to drink from the can if you don’t want to) the wine was delicious – medium weight, supple dark fruit and spices, simple and easy to drink. Another winner for the summer day.

2018 Field Recordings Valdiguié Shell Creek Vineyard Paso Robles (13.7% ABV, one puncheon produced) – How about the Valdiguié grape? While typically found in the South of France, in Languedoc, the grape found its way into the US and was known for a while as Napa Gamay. I tried this wine at room temperature (too acidic and herbaceous, literally “leaf-forward”), from the fridge (much better than at the room temperature, good acidity, and underripe berries), and then at the “cellar temperature” (as recommended) – best, with excellent complexity, young berries, fennel, mint and lemon.

Here are the wines from the shipment earlier this year – note the completely different style of the labels – isn’t it fun? I tried only two of these so far, both superb:

2018 Field Recordings Dry Hop Chardonnay Pét Nat Paso Robles (11.5% ABV, 3 barrels produced) – ohhh, what a pleasure! Light fizz, dry hoppy notes, fresh apple, vibrant acidity, an impression of simply walking in the meadow – the can disappear in a few gulps, literally.

2018 Field Recordings Jurassic Park Chenin Blanc Santa Ynez Valley (11.3% ABV) – Chenin Blanc from Field Recordings never disappoints. This wine was made in two formats – a bottle and a can. It is yet something I need to try, but I have high hopes.

2017 Field Recordings Old Potrero Zinfandel Arroyo Grande Valey (14.9% ABV, 6 barrels produced) – this was mind-boggling. While I accept canned wines wholeheartedly, I still expect canned wines to challenge me – but there was nothing challenging about this wine. From the first smell and sip, this was an amazing California Zinfandel in its beauty – powerful, dense, loaded with blackberries, a touch of dark chocolate, lusciously layered and dangerous (we almost had to fight for the last drops). A wow in the can.

As you can tell, I’m pretty excited about the canned wines I tried – but this is not my main point. I’m simply suggesting that you should look at the wine in the can not as a gimmick, but as a product made with a purpose. Are all wines in the can good? Of course not. There will be some which you will like, and some which you will not. But it is the same with the wine in the bottle – there are some which you like, and some which you don’t. Don’t be afraid of the wine can – just give it a try. And prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Cheers!