Cape Town-based Nice Beverage Company launches UNFLTRD canned wines with two distinct, and refreshing flavours : Skin Dry White is a blend of Chenin and Semillon with a unique caramelised flavour, and the Dry Rosé has classic berry flavours up front and a lifted hint of candy floss in the finish.
With a low alcohol volume, these two launch products aim to please with the purity of fruit and minimal sulphite additions.
A black-owned, sustainability-focused enterprise, Nice Beverage Co.’s UNFLTRD brand enters the market at a time when canned wines are subverting snooty attitudes, as they surge in popularity worldwide. The market is predicted to reach $572 million by 2028, according to reports.
The category is buoyed by shifting consumer preferences with interest from millennial and Gen X’ers, in particular, as they increasingly look for low ABV drinks. The convenience due to the compact size of cans is also seen as a factor in the projected market growth, as well as increasing consumer concerns around sustainability—a concern shared by Nice Beverages, who are committed to 90% recyclable packaging.
Premium appearance adds to the appeal of canned wines, which bodes well for Nice Beverages Co.’s aim to celebrate culture through blending diverse experiences while changing the narrative around what it means to ‘get a taste of Africa’.
Says one of the company’s founders, entrepreneur Hardy McQueen: “Alongside the South African launch in December, we’re excited about reaching broader markets in the US, and across the African continent. This is really exciting for us, as a business and as a brand as we’re super focused on change – our approach to wine-making, into-market delivery and target market.”
“So often South African wine brands, in my experience, don't take the audience on the continent seriously,” he adds.“We are definitely very serious about exploring and being able to be available in all the key cities around the continent, whether it be Accra, Nairobi, Luanda, Maputo, to Lagos, Addis – wherever we want to be the as an African brand that's proud to represent what is coming out of South Africa.”
Working with a variety of winemakers, Nice Beverage Co aims to empower winemakers of colour, in particular. “Our criteria for the winemakers we work with is, number one, that they are fully immersed in the low intervention natural wine, natural fermentation scene,” continues Hardy. “That's the first point. And then as well as, as a business, we also want to be able to work with and collaborate with a diverse group of people.”
Speaking of the winemakers they currently work with, McQueen says: “They all have their own independent brands, but working on a canned delivery gives them an opportunity to do something different. And also something which we would consider a lot more fun and not as serious as a bottle of wine that's been aged for 12 to 18 months in oak.”
Nice also works with a network of advisors – leaders in winemaking, branding and global distribution. One such advisor is Thurman Wise. Based out of Australia, Thurman has years of experience in launching new and established alcohol labels into new markets.
“Very rarely do you get a brand that can shake up the local market with cool global trends and conversely, take the local trends to the global market,” he says. “Nice is a unique brand with design that is attractive to consumers. And, a taste and story that’ll bring them back.
“It ticks so many boxes in such a genuine way that the potential is endless. There’s a perfect collaboration between amazing quality and soul and heart.”
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