Huge UK Summer Ahead for Canned Wine

Here in the UK, canned wines are having a ‘moment’. This outwardly colourful, innovative, vibrant single-serve category has been available on selected shelves for a number of years now, but consumers can be slow adopters, particularly when it comes to a subject as steeped in tradition as wine. But latterly it’s like the media dial has been turned up on the category by several notches... and the UK drinks market is all the better for it.

It seems like you can now read about recommended canned wines in a ‘Top 6’ list from any one of your favourite wine writers, and see them in mainstream newspapers and on weekend TV programmes with large audiences - not only in the excellent but more marginal wine trade press. What’s more, it’s now possible to track these recommendations down pretty easily too, thanks to increasing supermarket adoption, emergent specialist online retailers, and some brilliant subscription clubs, which is a hugely helpful plus point for an emerging category.

You at the back - you’ve not heard? Yes, cans are a growing trend in the wine industry which is enjoying more and more interest - measurable traction, even. Yes, you did hear that right, wine in a can - generally 250ml if you’re asking. If you're thinking that it doesn't sound quite right, historically you’d not be alone. But it’s time for UK consumers with memories of regrettable pre-train journey purchases of desperation to consign those to… er, let’s say 2015. Things are wholly different now.

The idea of packaging wine in a can isn’t new, and goes back to the 1930s in the US, when canning emerged as an experimental way of preserving wine, with what history records as mixed results: Innovation 9/10. Wine quality… well, less than that. But for a more recent milestone moment, we might look to the early 2000s when the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in California took the then bold decision to launch a Blanc de Blancs in can… it was a huge success, and the market - and other wineries in the US as well as open-minded consumers - took it from there.

However, it’s only relatively recently that canned wine has started to gain attention in the UK, and there are a number of factors feeding in to this, which I think considered together do make the shamelessly click-friendly ‘Summer of canned wine’ headline I’ve used here, utterly justifiable.

Firstly, and at the risk of stating the obvious, canned wine is easy to transport. So it’s bang perfect for picnics, beach trips, festivals, camping, etc etc. Secondly, those lower volumes mean that not only is picking up a couple of cans less expensive than bottled wine, making it a great option for those consumers with lower ceilings on their wine budget, but it supports and encourages lower alcohol consumption. Thirdly, people are becoming far more conscious of the environmental impact of the things they consume; and cans are a recyclable, lightweight alternative to glass, which can be resource heavy and generate a lot of waste.

But these might be decent reasons for a product category to be able to make some headway in theory, but what about the wine itself? There are probably loads of great environmental reasons to wear wooden clogs, but that doesn’t mean many people are going do it. Well, another reason canned wines are gaining traction is that the quality of wines in cans has improved dramatically over the years, thanks to improvement in canning technology and the linings of the cans themselves. As a result producers are now putting some great quality wine into cans. By comparison, remember when we used to obsess over bottles with screw caps and insist that the wines with those closures were no good? You don’t hear that so much now.

And as well as the uptick in quality, the styles of wines now available in cans is so broad that it caters for almost all different tastes and preferences; red, white, rosé, orange, natural, sparkling, single varietals, blends and spritzers - there is a canned wine for everyone. What’s more the chances are that it’s in a really great looking can.

So canned wines look cool? Well, you’d be better off asking somebody better qualified, but I do think that the presentation is really important to the march of the wine in cans; they tend to be beautiful. I mean, really eye-catching. In a way that brings to mind craft beers and spirits, or modern art, more than wine - colourful, artistic, often with a little edge, powerful for getting attention and forming a connection between consumer and brand. In terms of adoption by younger generations of consumers - millennials are estimated to make up around 40% of canned wine consumers - this is huge.

Finally, I think that that steady stream of ctitical acclaim for canned wine we’ve seen in the past year is key for setting up Summer 2023: I’m a fan of the ancient marketing addage ‘the rule of seven’ - the simple premise that a person has to see a message seven times before acting on it. And with that dialled up media profile, I reckon that at this point there are a lot of consumers in the UK on perhaps five, six or maybe even seven nudges towards canned wine…

In conclusion, Summer 2023 in the UK really does look set to me to be a breakthrough season for canned wines. So, if you haven't tried any yet, make it your avowed mission to do so this Summer.

Image credit: ‘Summer of Canned Wine’, by DALL-E2 Artificial Intelligence