About a year ago Union Wine Co. decided it needed to do a little rebranding. Ever since the Oregon-based company opened in 2005, it had embraced an unfussy approach to imbibing, but the company realized its message to consumers could be clearer. During a particularly electric brainstorming session earlier this year, it landed on a slogan, “pinkies down,” and a brave new method of delivery: wine in a can.
Ryan Harms, the owner of Union Wine Co., is a firm believer in the saying “it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine.” He likes the way a beer can feels in your hand and its portability, but he didn’t seriously think about canning wine until that rebranding meeting in June. He and his team talked about wanting their products to be accessible, both in the approachability of the varietals’ flavors and the ease with which one could grab a drink. They wanted to see their wines included on a backcountry skiing trip or packed for an exploration of Mount Hood. All of a sudden, the can seemed like a viable wine-delivery option.
But the company also had a difficult set of parameters to work within. Wine production is regulated, and wine can only be sold in certain size containers. At the same time, Harms felt very strongly about keeping it in a can that looked and felt like a beer can. That size, he thought, just felt so much more satisfying in the hand than the skinny cans in the energy drink world, which he didn’t have any emotional connection to. But the average 12-ounce beer can holds just under an amount that can be put on store shelves. If Union wants a beer can, those cans will actually have to hold 375 milliliters, or 12.68 ounces.
The packaging design for Union Wine’s products, including its wine-can prototype, is by Story Manufacturing Co. Can photos by Graham Hiemstra for Cool Hunting
Union Wine was also up against a problem of the wine itself, which often likes special treatment before being consumed. Some wines should be decanted to introduce more surface area to the air. Others are only at their best in a glass of a certain shape or at a pre-determined age.
Harms is half businessman and half winemaker, and he didn’t want the business idea to come at the expense of his craft. But he was also really tied to the everyday can. So he tailored the wine to suit the can instead of the other way around, discounting any varietal that wouldn’t do well there. “The types of wine in cans don’t need to be decanted or to age for five years to be accessible,” says Harms. “That would be a real disservice to put products like that in a can.” Wines that do better: “wines from the fresh and fruit-driven world, whether that’s white or red.”
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