Thursday, December 08, 2011

Markets in Everything: Wine in Cans

New York Times -- "First, winemakers poured their vintages into bottles and corked them. Then they lost the corks and added screw tops. Then they lost the bottles and sold wine in boxes, next to beer and pretzels at supermarkets. And now, winemakers seeking some pop are canning wine."

HT: Joe Lais

21 Comments:

At 12/08/2011 2:47 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Well if swill in a can (like canned beer) is what people want then by all means, can it...

Serious vinters, did they lose the cork? Serious business people did...

 
At 12/08/2011 3:41 PM, Blogger Mike said...

This is going to make Morganovich throw up in his mouth a little.

 
At 12/08/2011 4:01 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

I don't think most people are going to drink wine this way.

I'm betting the folks who had this "idea" are not wine drinkers..but beer drinkers... or as juandos posited "swill" drinkers.

 
At 12/08/2011 4:02 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

mike-

while i have my doubts about canned wine, i have to say that when i used to live in sydney, they put some decent whites in boxes. it wasn't bad and did not oxidize, so you could drink a glass at a time.

i have not seen an equivalent in the US, which is too bad.

and hey, these can't be as bad as wine coolers.

what really makes me die a little is the chinese buying up huge lots of excellent vintages because it's conspicuous consumption. they don't really like the wine, so they drink it mixed with coke.

mixing a first pressing margaux with coke seems like a waste. might as well be gallo at that point.

 
At 12/08/2011 4:07 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

"I don't think most people are going to drink wine this way."

keep in mind that most wine consumed in the us is "swill".

all the growth in the wine sector is in the under $10 category and has been for years.

i am left wondering if this is just an attempt to resuscitate the wine cooler category.

 
At 12/08/2011 4:09 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

Morg - is there ANY box wine in the US that you consider fit to drink?

 
At 12/08/2011 5:04 PM, Blogger Mike said...

Morganovich,

As always, you say something I had not heard before....wine and coke? I wouldn't mind so much if the stuff they are using wasn't allocated.

A while back, you made a comment that Cakebread was just mediocre (I think their Cab and Reserve Chard are really good and, at around $40, I think their regular chard is hard to beat), so the thought of you drinking anything out of a box just doesn't compute.
I've never had a US box wine that I could actually swallow, but between my wife and me, I don't think we've ever opened a bottle that wasn't finished...so oxidizing isn't a problem for us :)

 
At 12/08/2011 6:21 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

I like to mix Ripple wine with champagne. Like Red Foxx says, you get champipple.

 
At 12/08/2011 7:04 PM, Blogger Mike said...

Ben,
That concoction sounds like a one-way ticket to join Elizabeth.

 
At 12/08/2011 7:07 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

Best Chardonnays:

Far Niente Chardonnay

Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay

 
At 12/09/2011 9:56 AM, Blogger morganovich said...

no, i have never had a US box wine i liked. "fit to drink" is a tricky phrase though. fit to drink during dinner at boulevard in SF is quite different from fit to drink while camping on an overnight rafting trip or a tailgate party.

that said, i have never bought a box of wine in the US as the vendors tend to be folks like gallo or corbett canyon. i'd be open to it if i saw some from a winery i liked.

regarding cakebread, it's a style thing.

i used to stop at their vineyard frequently as they has a great barn for tasting, but never really liked anything but their sav blanc. their chard is much too oaky for my tastes, though many seem to like it (and that heavily oaked genre)

i'd rather drink the lewis or the rombauer or something made with marsane or roussane.

i think cakebread is very expensive for what it is.

if you want a good (and cheaper) california chard, take a look at some of the stuff from cline or the duckhorn (but not the dreadful decoy) or in some years the chateau montelena and v sattui. i feel like i've had some good stuff from shafer as well. if you want more flavor (and much lower price) there is some good marsane and roussane from the central valley (like qupe).

some of it is a little sweet, but pairs well with spicy asian food.

 
At 12/09/2011 12:25 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

if you are going to drink champipple, just go whole hog and drink brass monkey.

(malt liquor and oj)

 
At 12/09/2011 1:23 PM, Blogger Buddy R Pacifico said...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:

morganovich's first vintage recommendations as a child here.

 
At 12/09/2011 2:26 PM, Blogger Mike said...

Morganovich,
Thanks for the recommendations. I don't drink a lot of white, but my wife keeps about 5% of that sector propped up single-handedly.

BTW, if you don't like the regular Cakebread chard, don't ever get the reserve...very, very heavy.

 
At 12/09/2011 2:40 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

I guess I'm stuck with swill since I hear no box wine recommendations.

;0)

 
At 12/10/2011 9:54 AM, Blogger JakeW said...

I guarantee you Utah is already in the process of banning this product on the grounds that it "looks too much like soda."

 
At 12/10/2011 9:55 AM, Blogger JakeW said...

I guarantee you Utah is already in the process of banning this product on the grounds that it "looks too much like soda."

 
At 12/10/2011 9:57 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

the heck you say... what right does the govt have in banning products in the first place??

what about our "natural rights"?

I think it is disgusting for govt to trample on our god-given rights.

 
At 12/10/2011 9:58 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

clearly if this product gets banned it's going to be Obama's fault for pursuing more job-killing regulation.

OUTRAGE!!

Let's run the socialist fool out of office before he takes any more rights away...

 
At 12/10/2011 2:19 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

buddy-

LOL.

in fact, i was a bit more of a froot loops kid than any sort of connoisseur, but i appreciate the sentiment.

 
At 12/10/2011 2:22 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

I'm still brokenhearted that I cannot elicit a box wine recommendation out of Morg....

 

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