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w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J a n - F e b 2 017 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 2 1 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m in Colorado, but it was really just a local thing. Then we started getting more distribution across the coun- try. Only in 2014 did people start to get excited about the category, and that was driven by people like Devin Broglie and Doug Bell, the global buyers at Whole Foods who approached us about carrying it in their stores. Then the CEO of Fron- tier Airlines placed the product on his airline and it's still there. "Those were the big moments in making people aware of the packaging," he continues. With that exposure, there was a rapid increase in consumer interest. "In 2015, we started a roll-out to Whole Foods across the nation and, in 2016, we were busy pre- paring to get the product into other national grocery chains for a 2017 reset. We're in 42 states right now and growing rapidly," he says. He expects his can sales in 2017 to be nearly 80,000 cases, roughly dou- ble his sales in 2016. WIDE APPEAL "The can is all about instant sat- isfaction, being a single serving and portability," says Parsons. "There's a time and place for it for any demo- graphic. It's not just for younger consumers. It might just be some- one who only wants a single glass of wine when they get home from work and they don't want to open a whole bottle. We have lots of cus- tomers like that. There are younger customers who are just getting into nomenon that gave rise to mobile bottling lines servicing small start- up wineries in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Parsons acknowledges that wine in cans is still a niche product, but it's very practical packaging for many settings because of its light weight compared to wine in a bot- tle, especially at a time when many wineries are using bottles that weigh more than the wine in them. "There will always be a place for bottled wine," says Parsons. "You're never going to put your $100 bottle of Oak Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon in a can, because a can of that wine would cost around $30." LOOKING FORWARD Glass bottles and corks have served the wine industry well, but maybe it's time for the wine indus- try to learn some new tricks — and one of those should be wine in cans. I genuinely believe that younger consumers aren't terri- bly interested in tradition and are instead prioritizing practicality and environmental impact. That cre- ates an interesting opportunity for forward-thinking wineries. There's no getting around the fact that wine bottles are very heavy to carry around. Their weight and volume makes them inconve- nient in many situations. Anyone who has a job in this industry that involves traveling with bottles of wine knows that well. Wines in a can are extremely por- table, convenient for outdoor use, available in single-serving containers and are reliably fresh, not to mention easy to cool down. I think this trend is going to be around for a while. Tim Teichgraeber cut his teeth in retail wine sales before becom- ing the wine columnist for the Min- neapolis Star Tribune. Today he is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, Tasting Panel, Opus Vino and other publications, when he's not working as an entertainment lawyer in San Francisco. Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. wine, but we also get crossover from the craft brewing industry — people who are looking for an alter- native to beer." Interestingly enough, the craft b r e w i n g t r e n d m a y h a v e i n d i - rectly lowered the barrier to entry for wineries looking to can wine. With more and more brewers pop- ping up, there's been increasing demand for mobile canning solu- tions because bootstrapping start- up brewers don't want to spend $100,000 on a new bottling or canning line. Mobile canners are springing up all over the country to satisfy that demand for small brew- eries. Those same mobile canning operators would certainly be happy to can wine — it's the same phe- Infinite Monkey Theorem's canned wines come in four styles and are popu- lar with outdoor enthusiasts. MARKET WATCH TIM TEICHGRAEBER