Wine: Taking a punt on cans

Some people can be a bit stubborn when it comes to wine. If it doesn't come in a heavy glass bottle with a monster punt at the bottom, they're not interested. The angry outcries from the Portuguese contingent at a Wrap lightweighting seminar at the London Wine Fair a few years ago were a case in point.

Yet, this year's event proved to be a showcase for alternative packaging formats for wine. Pouches, Tetra Paks and cans were all on display. Beverage can manufacturer Rexam in particular has been a major exponent of alternative formats, with Pelican and CanCan from Guy Anderson both on display at the show in the company's cans.

So Rexam was well placed to host a wine-tasting event for wine industry bigwigs to test the format. The blind tasting pitted canned wine against wine from glass bottles to see if the experts could tell the difference. The tasting was split into three sections - white, rosé and red varieties - and for each the tasters were given three wines to try. They were then asked to name their favourite.

Among the tasters were drinks wholesaler WaverleyTBS' wine director Neil Bruce, wine blogger Jaime Goode, wine consultant Lynne Sheriff and Waitrose's former corporate sales manager Keith Lyon. All were sceptical about the market for wine in cans. Goode summarised everyone's feelings when he said, "the -perception people have got is if it's in a can, it's crap". His comment met nods of approval from around the room.

General consensus among the experts was that in order for wine in cans to shift its undesirable image, a leading brand must move into the format.

"Someone has to make a brave step," said Bruce. But who that brand would be stumped the wine experts. Sheriff was adamant that it had to be a recognised brand above the minimum price point so as to give consumers a sense that the product inside is of premium quality.

However, all agreed that the mixer/spritzer market was a key market for cans, especially after Lyon pointed out that canned Pimm's has proved particularly popular for Waitrose in Canary Wharf, London.

Rexam took the opportunity to educate the experts as to the possibilities of wine in cans, an area it has been focusing on for a number of years. The company already has two standard formats for wine in 200ml and 250ml single-serve cans. In line with the ethos of cans as on-the-go packaging, the company has decided to focus on the outdoor event market, targeting specifically the 18-32-year-old age group.

"We've reached this point where the wine industry has dug itself into a hole in Europe," said Paul Foulkes, owner and founder of market insight consultancy Wren and Rowe, who has conducted market research on behalf of Rexam. "Asia isn't ready for us yet, we are desperately seeking new markets. There's certainly a packaging opportunity."

According to Foulkes, producers are becoming much more open to new formats, even in more traditional markets like Rioja, Spain. "Maybe the glass bottle and the cork are not the only way forward," he said. "It's been an interesting first three months of the year and I think we are about to see some great changes in the way marketing is used in the wine industry."

Although a keen supporter of wine in cans, Foulkes was careful not to bill it as the answer to all wine brands' problems. He recognises that in some cases it might be more suitable to create a secondary brand to go into the can format. "You cannot punt £3m on the wrong idea," he added.

Branding benefits
From a commercial point of view, the can benefits from 360-degree opportunities for branding, speedy dry-offset colour printing and even thermochromic inks that change colour when the can has reached the optimum drinking temperature.

And from a technical point of view the format is tried and tested. The same epoxy-based liner, expoxy acrylate, as used for soft drinks is employed to coat the inside of the cans and tests have shown that the can has a shelf life of up to a year.

"The Achilles heel of other packaging formats is you have to have a fast turnaround," said Goode. "With this, it will stay fresh for a long time after. This can be the main problem with bag-in-box."

The merits of bag-in-box, aseptic cartons and pouches were also put under the microscope by the experts. Tetra Pak has in the past made clear its intention to tackle the wine market, with Banrock Station being sold in the format into Tesco stores. While Constellation Europe's recent bag-in-box launch, the FreshCase (see right), which holds 2.25l, the equivalent of three bottles of wine, was highlighted as a recent move forward in this area.

However, it was the single-serving wine pouch that Foulkes produced that caused the biggest stir, with the experts passing round the pack, which essentially looked like a pouch more commonly used for shower gel, with excitement.

Rexam, meanwhile, has most recently developed a can in the shape of a bottle called the Fusion. Although it has not been developed for any specific drinks market, the group recognised the possibilities of the format for the wine sector.

So after all the discussions, what was the outcome of the tasting itself? Well, surprisingly, the can performed best in the reds, beating the two other glass-bottled wines in this sector. But it also performed relatively well in the other two categories, winning a respectable number of votes in each.

The results surprised some tasters who'd expected the can to perform better in the white category due to its known properties for keeping drinks cool.

"Test things, create things, put things in front of your chief executives," encouraged Foulkes. "There are lots of European markets now, many of which are switching on to wine."

Foulkes admits that getting a traditional family wine maker to make the move to cans is difficult, but told the experts that many in the wine industry have moved across from beer and spirits and have prior knowledge of the pack format and its limitations.

Outdoor opportunities
Contentiously, Rexam's targeting of the young-adult market was called into question by the experts, who cautioned against linking alcohol to a younger audience. But the company's extensive research has shown enthusiasm in this market to buy the product, especially among women for occasions such as picnics.

The company conducted market research by interviewing young women in London parks to determine their views on wine in cans. All of the women that feature in the research point to the single-serving benefits of the packs and the safety benefits cans have over glass. "There's a time and a place where a can of wine would be OK," said one, while another extolled the virtues of cans on the beach in Brighton, where glass is now banned.

Admittedly, the video research is a product of Rexam and comments are likely to be favourable, but it does appear there is a market for the format among younger consumers.

Snobbery in the wine industry, however, looks unlikely to go away any time soon. As the experts at the tasting highlighted, until a big brand adopts the can for wine its image as a substandard packaging method in this area is likely to remain intact. As yet, no major wine brand has been brave enough to take up the challenge, and cans look unlikely to replace the bottle as the wine industry's packaging standard. As an on-the-go format, though, metal could shine.

Picture: (l-r) Paul Foulkes, Rexam Beverage Can sales vice president Graham Fenton, Jaime Goode, a reporter for The Drinks Business, Lynne Sherriff, Jill Park, Rexam quality manager Europe Paul McNaughton, The Drinks Business editor Patrick Schmitt, Neil Bruce, Keith Lyon

WHAT THE EXPERTS HAD TO SAY
"The Achilles heel of other packaging formats is you have to have a fast turnaround. With this it will stay fresh for a long time after"
Jaime Goode, wine blogger, wineanorak.com

"I come back to the fine ale market. They wouldn’t buy in cans as there’s perceived to be taint even if there isn’t"
Keith Lyon, former corporate sales manager Waitrose

"It requires a brand such as Hardy’s to take it up"
Lynne Sherriff, wine consultant

"The one area I think there could be a complete proposition would be in the spritzer/mixer market"
Neil Bruce, wine director WaverleyTBS

FRESHCASE
The wine experts were keen for a big brand to move into the wine-in-can format so as to lend it the credibility it much desires. Constellation Europe took such a step recently when it moved its Hardy’s Nottage Hill brand into a new bag-in-box format.

The FreshCase holds 2.25l, the equivalent of three bottles of wine, but can easily be placed in the fridge for chilling. It weighs 70% less than three of its glass counterparts and incorporates a pull-down tap handle that can be turned into a stand for easy pouring.

External component parts of FreshCase are supplied by 1st Packaging in Leighton Buzzard to Constellation Europe’s new manufacturing and distribution site Constellation Park, based in Avonmouth, Bristol, where it is assembled.

The FreshCase went into Sainsbury’s stores in November last year. Sainsbury’s wine buyer Holly Lee says: FreshCase is one of the most exciting packaging innovations in wine that we have ever seen – offering real benefits to the consumer in keeping premium wine fresh for longer in a stylish and convenient pack.

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