Canned Wine Has Been Around Longer Than You Thought

If you haven't thought about canned wine or anything that doesn't come from a bottle since wine coolers were at their height, then it's time to revisit the concept. While canned wine has had a bad rap for a long time, there are actually some really great winemakers and producers turning to the additional method of packaging, according to VinePair. But this version of wine has actually been around for longer than you might realize. 

It was actually filmmaker and director Francis Ford Coppola's own winery, The Family Coppola, that kicked off the trend in California well before it was popular (via Market Watch). Though the winery made its first iteration of canned wines back in 2003, things have greatly changed since. The original canned wine came in 187-milliliter aluminum cans with straws, and only one wine was packaged this way — Sofia Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine. Some 13 years later, the canned wine trend had finally caught on in 2016. The demand increased by 125% with sales totalling around $14.5 million in a single year.

Now that there are so many great wines available in cans, it is beyond time to give them a try. Apart from the better environmental footprint of canned wines thanks to their lightweight packaging, canned wines have great advantages for the consumer too (via VinePair). Canned wine eliminates a lot of the risk of oxidation that can happen when wine is packaged in traditional corked bottles. Wine oxidizes when it is exposed to air, per Wine Enthusiast. That's why bottles of wine must be stored lying on its side — to keep the cork wet with wine. Otherwise, air can seep through the porous cork and into the wine causing it to oxidize even if the bottle is unopened. With cans, there's no risk of this happening.

Cans are also much easier to pack in coolers for outdoor adventure activities like camping or even just to take out to the beach for the day. Another added bonus is that cans cool much more quickly than glass, so you can chill the wine faster too. So, reconsider canned wine and give a few labels a try. You could just find your new favorite alcoholic beverage.