I’ve always been more intruiged by off-beat wines and quirky grape varieties than big money wines. Give me a grape variety I’ve never heard of or a wine from a region I’ve little knowledge of and I’m in.
One of the most interesting meetings we had at Wine Paris was with a young British business ‘The Canned Wine Company’.
Launched in the spring of 2019 Simon Rollings and Lisa Soloveiva were looking to create a way of selling quality wine in small quantities in a sustainable way.
They import the wines in bulk (lowering emissions and reducing the CO2 footprint of heavy weight glass). Canning technology has improved dramatically in recent years and the aluminium cans are lined with a water based polymer which protects the flavours of the wine.
So what are the advantages? Well, they’re lighter, smaller, easier to open, easy to transport, better for the environment and infinitely recyclable (to name a few!).
The cans contain 250ml which is a large glass of wine in the UK or two glasses if you live in France! Pefect for a picnic or lunch.
So the wine itself. Is it any good?
Well, actually yes it is. I’ve been surprised by the freshness and quality of the wines I’ve tasted so far. Which brings me to St Laurent, the fruity red that is their No 4. Have you heard of it? No? I hadn’t either!
Living in France these past 15 years, we’ve found it hard to source wines from elsewhere. There have been so many changes. So many countries in Europe are producing fabulous interesting things these days.
The wine comes from Austria and St Laurent (a black grape variety), has been produced there since the nineteenth century (at the very least).
The name is said to come from its Austrian synonym ‘Laurenzitraube’ which refers to St Laurentius, patron saint of chefs, whose saint’s day falls on the 10 August (the day when the variety begins to ripen).
St Laurent (sometimes written Sankt Laurent) produces wines that are aromatic, deeply coloured and velvety with nice fine tannins and flavours of sour cherry and red fruits.
If you’re a fan of Loire reds then I think you’d love it too. It has lovely freshness on the palate and a seam of tannin that lifts it from being too commercial in style. We really loved it and I would definitely seek it out again as a grape variety. We’re hooked.
Unfortunately, those of us outside the UK may have to wait a while. The cans are currently widely available in the UK in upmarket delis and shops, National Trust restaurants and country houses but not here in France.
Damn!
A final note. If you go to the website and look at the prices, don’t raise your eyebrows. You get what you pay for remember. If you want a quality product you have to be prepared to pay for it. These are quality products. They’re not looking to produce cheap wine for guzzling at parties, these are well crafted wines that merit the price per can.
Check out their website here for more information These cans would make a great gift and can be ordered online. I’m just jealous we don’t have access to them here.
source – Wine Grapes Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding, José Vouillamoz
