South African canned wine dominated the Decanter Magazine’s July edition of Expert's Choice. A hundred and ten canned wines were sampled from across the globe, including some powerhouse regions: Loire (France), Lombardy (Italy), Napa Valley (USA), Mendoza ( Argentina), and Stellenbosch (South Africa). Decanter selected and featured 18 wines, and 6 of these were from South Africa.
The top 18 scoring wines were featured by Peter Ranscombe in the July edition of the world renowned and respected Decanter Magazine. Wines featured all scored above 89 with a South African canned Chenin Blanc, ‘Wyntjie’ by De Kleine Wijn Koöp scoring top marks overall with a score of 95.
“Not just a great canned wine, but a great wine, full stop. Classic fresh South African Chenin,” writes an enthused Ranscombe.
“It’s awesome to be mentioned in Decanter Magazine. We are happy that the wine is of great quality and the fact that the can is working, reaffirms that good wine has a place in the can. There is a need in the market for wine in cans coupled with its convenience and sustainability advantage,” says Wynand Grobler, winemaker at De Kleine Wijn Koöp.
South African wine in cans dominated the authors top 18 with six being featured. Next most represented country was Spain (3), followed by France (2), Italy (2), USA (2) , UK (1) and Argentina (1).
South African wines that featured:
- De Kleine Wijn Koöp Wyntjie Chenin Blanc 2020, Buffelsfontein, South Africa - 95
- The Fishwives Club Sensational Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Western Cape, South Africa - 94
- Banks Brothers No. 5 Grenache Blanc 2019, Stellenbosch, South Africa - 94
- AA Badenhorst The Curator Red Blend 2020, Swartland, South Africa - 94
- The Liberator New Blood & Chocolate Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz 2020, Coastal Region, South Africa - 93
- The Copper Crew Chenin Blanc 2020, Stellenbosch, South Africa - 93
“Some very serious producers in the Cape and beyond are putting high-quality wines into cans,” writes Ranscombe.
The global wine in can market is currently valued at £158.4 million and is expected to grow by more than 13% reaching £428.4 million by 2028 according to a recent report by Grand View Research.
“As the global canned wine market continues to demonstrate strong growth, UK sales are soaring, quadrupling in the last two years alone,” Simon Gretsy, chairman of Can Makers (UK).
“South Africa is generally acknowledged here (UK) as leading the way in canned wine,” notes Richard Kelly, Dreyfus- Ashby, UK importer of Banks Brothers and brand owner of The Liberator.
All the South African wines in the Decanter feature were packaged by local start-up Tiny Keg Can Co. who have led the way in offering high-quality wine canning in South Africa.
Tiny Keg offer both a mobile and facility-based service for wine producers in the Western Cape targeting both local and international markets. In a period of three years they have packaged over 5 million canned wines for 52 different customers - from traditional wine establishments to new challenger brands. This experience has allowed them to keep learning and innovating in this rapidly developing market.
Tom Riley, founder and MD at Tiny Keg Can Co. explains, “Our core value is quality and we have invested in technology and quality control to ensure world class packaged liquids.”
Adi Badenhorst, whose Curator Red Blend also features in the Decanter article, comments, “Tiny Keg are technically very astute: minimal losses, low oxygen pick-up and maintaining SO2. An absolute pleasure to work with the guys in terms of attention to detail.”
Wynand Grobler, man behind the Wyntjie explains, “It's been good to work with Tiny Keg Can Co, they focus on quality, make sure the product goes into the can the right way, the integrity of the product does not get compromised.”
Tiny Keg’s offering of flexibility, mobility and low MOQs has reduced the barriers to entry. Innovative brand owners are able to seed the market without excessive capital exposure. This has allowed for democratization of beverage offerings which has seen an explosion of new exciting proudly South African wine in cans being recognized and celebrated in global markets.