After wine in bottles with screw caps and wine from a bag-in-box, wine in a can is slowly making its way to consumers in Europe and Belgium.
Approximately three-quarters of French people who participated in a survey commissioned by the Maîtres vignerons de Saint-Tropez wine producers earlier this year indicated that they would drink a fresh white wine from a can. Half of those questioned even said that such a can of wine is "handy during picnics, on the beach or at big events."
While canned wine is already well established in the Anglosphere, the hype is now also spreading to continental Europe. In Belgium, canned wine is already available in various supermarkets, and there are even about ten small Belgian players, such as Salute, The French kiss club and Plus One.
"It is not our aim to compete with bottled wine," Margaux Bouckaert, the CEO of The French kiss club, told De Standaard. "This is just another way of drinking wine. A fresh rosé or white wine in the minibar of your hotel, by the pool or on the beach, that is what we are aiming for."
Whites, rosés and fruity reds
For sommelier Gianluca Di Taranto, Belgium is too conservative in its attitude towards different ways of drinking wine. "At first, we were also reserved about beer in cans. But now you see that the most qualitative beers, such as some hop beers, are even only kept in cans."
However, Di Taranto did emphasise that not every canned wine is good, as the concept does not work for all wines. "Especially fresh, thirst-quenching wines work well in a can. Several fruity red wines, such as the ones that you would drink slightly chilled, can also be packaged in cans."
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There is a lot of growth potential for wine in cans in Europe, especially for a younger target audience, wine lecturer Stijn Verleyen told the newspaper. "Wine is just not that popular with young people. There is still a lot of room to introduce them to it, and this can be done with trendy cans. And it does not change the taste."
Additionally, Verleyen wrote a paper on wine packaging materials and found that wine in cans is more sustainable than in glass bottles.
"As a consumer, it is still best to store wine in a dark glass bottle, but most people drink the wine they buy within 48 hours," he said. "So we actually do not have to worry about storage so much. Glass bottles are very heavy and less environmentally friendly than cans. Because cans are lighter, transporting them is also more sustainable."
