What is it?
This 375ml can is certainly eye catching. It’s got snakes, it’s got bones and it’s got flowers. It’s very rock and roll.
One can is the equivalent to 2.5 small glasses of wine and is 13.5% alcohol. It is on the large size for a can of wine, but great for accompanying you to a BBQ or bonfire.
It comes available to buy individually (rather than the four-pack that smaller cans of wines all seem to come in). I enjoy buying a single can as I don’t like to commit.
What’s good about it?
Now, I am fully behind sparkling and white wines in cans. It seems natural to me to have single serving cold wines in cans.
I am not as behind the idea of canned (or boxed) red wines. To me, generally, most sparkling wines – in bottle or can – are drinkable. And I found that the first sparkling can wine I had (PinotPinot Sparkling Pinot Grigio) was better than a lot of cheap Prosecco or Cava I have had. The can format seems to work well for sparkling wines.
While there are many beautiful, carefully crafted, subtle and wonderful high-quality premium white and sparkling wines, generally speaking, it seems to me it’s easier to find decent white wines at a low price. I will generally spend more money, on average, for red wines. And while many people use sparkling wines for celebrations, I am more likely to consider sparkling wines a daily wine (we even refer to it as ‘breakfast wine’ in my family) and save a good bottle of red wine for a special event or dinner.
So I started with an initial prejudice against cheap red wine.
I picked this can because I liked how it looked and, at the same time, I bought the Crafter’s Union Pinot Grigio and Crafter’s Union Rosé (also both have nice cans ;)).
If you aren’t a girly girl then you might be put off by all the pink cans. This one is still feminine (can wine makers KNOW, they really do, that women are jumping on the can wine train), but not in an overtly pink way.
What does it taste like?
It’s not great, to be perfectly honest. I immediately was glad I had only one can.
Now, after I had drunk and judged said can wine I realised that this was meant to be chilled before consuming.
It tasted weak and a bit flat. It also had an indistinct flavor. Could this all be improved by chilling it and trying it at the right temperature? Let’s hope so.
The can says it is ‘daring and elegant’, but as I sipped on my lackluster and decidedly room-temperature wine from a can, I felt neither daring nor elegant. I felt nothing.
I drank this can fast and then moved on with my life.
What isn’t good about it?
It wasn’t immediately apparent to me that this red wine should be refrigerated. Does ALL red can wine need to be refrigerated? Refrigerating red wine flies in the face of established red wine knowledge so I feel like this should have been more clear.
I think (hope) the flavour *might* have been improved by chilling it. And while I know that there are some red wines that should be slightly chilled (like a Beaujolais Nouveau) or even chilled (like a sparkling red), I am skeptical of red can wine that needs to be chilled.
Would I buy it again?
Yes, if only to chill it and give it another chance.
Crafters Union Red Blend 2017 Quick Facts
- Price: $6-8 depending on tax
- Found at: Fine Wine & Good Spirits, 2040 Market St. Philadelphia
- Alcohol Content: %13.5
- Rating: 3 out of 10
- Type of wine: Red blend
- Container type: Can
- Container size: 375ml
- Hails from: California
- Pairs well with: The fridge, apparently.