alternative | creative | innovative
Welcome to Alternative Wine Packaging, a resource of information and links to more about the exploding innovation and creativity in wine packaging beyond the traditional glass bottle with a natural cork stopper. Benefits are: Convenience: alternative wine packaging makes enjoying wine convenient for all occasions and situations, such as when you want just a single […]
It’s Great for Wine, But Not the Environment Alternative wine packaging has been around since the goat skin bota bag debuted in ancient Greece. Since then the wine industry has experimented with container materials and form factors seeking to discover the best vessel for the beverage and the moment. That the glass bottle won the […]
The “paper bottle” has been around awhile, since Stranger & Stranger designed Paperboy for Truett & Hurst back in 2014. The brand did not end well. The term is a bit misleading, too, as it is really a “bag-in-bottle” with a plastic bladder inside the compressed paper bottle shell. Still, it does save on weight […]
Hopefully this is the next phase in canned wine: increasing quality. The can container is really not that much different than a glass bottle; while some continue to argue that a bark cork allows some passage of air (it shouldn’t) that positively affects the maturation of the wine inside, the truth is that wine in […]
There has been a LOT of press on canned wine, and with good reason. Canned wine is experiencing explosive growth, in volume, in dollars, and in SKUs. Dollar sales alone experienced nearly 69% growth in 2018, and 47% growth in volume. Yes, this growth is on a relatively small volume, but no other wine packaging […]
“A new study from researchers at Susquehanna University and Texas Tech University of 1,000 people aged 21 to 88 determined there are six main drivers of canned wine’s popularity … .” In a quick summary of the study, the researchers found the obvious on why cans are gaining market share: convenience, recyclability, portability, serving size, […]
Ever wonder why one can only buy certain sizes of containers for wine? 750-mL bottles, 3-L bag-in-boxes, etc.? Why in metric volumes and not Imperial? It all is due to our federal government’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau at the Department of the Treasury (TTB) and history. Unlike beer and spirits, wine must […]
In my previous post I wrote that the generational shift and cultural changes were showing in sales of canned wines and Tetra-Paks. And in the previous post before that I mused that the industry was beginning to accept canned wines as evidence of a wine competition for that alternative package. Well, hold your breath no […]
The generational shift in demographics along with cultural changes are revealing themselves in how people enjoy their alcoholic pleasures – latest Nielsen data shows that ready-to-drinks along with convenient single-serves are winning customers in increasing numbers. Note, “And while spirit- and wine-based ready to drink cocktail sales aren’t skyrocketing the way malt-based cocktail sales are, […]
Wine competitions can be bellwethers of societal acceptance in wine trends … usually once a trend has gotten a solid foothold in some sector of the market. So while this isn’t necessarily in the same league as the Decanter World Wine Awards or the San Francisco International Wine Competition this is a heartening development for […]
The rising popularity of both keg and aluminum can does not surprise me. Both have big advantages in packaging that have more green footprints for the environment and convenience for buyers. Kegs provide volume and consistency for wine on tap, reuse of the container, and cost savings (albeit modest to be honest). Aluminum cans provide […]