MORE RESTAURANTS SERVING WINE FROM KEGS

It's becoming increasingly more likely that when you order a glass of wine in a restaurant, it will come from the tap on a keg.  A recent Wine Spectator article cites a growing trend in restaurant wine service to pour by-the glass options from a keg rather than from a bottle.

This trend is underway all across America, but is particularly noticeable in California and New York dining spots.  Kegs aren't just for the bargain brands, either.  There are quite a few top-shelf wineries delivering their wine to restaurants in kegs.  Wine Spectator notes that customer reaction has been positive, with many diners expressing surprise at how good the wine tastes from the tap.

From a restaurant's view, there are many benefits to serving keg wine.  The wine stays fresher, longer than it does in bottles.  The kegs can be reused, so the cost of the bottling is eliminated.  Less storage space is required for kegs than for an equal amount of wine in bottles.  Shipping costs are less and there's no worry about broken bottles.  Also, a customer will never have to send a wine back due to cork taint.

The environment catches a break, too, since the reusable kegs mean that no bottles have to be recycled or thrown out with the trash.

It's thought that millennials are driving the popularity of keg wine.  The younger segment of the wine crowd seems to like trying new things and they are more green-conscious than their elders.

Wineries do need to purchase the equipment which will allow them to sanitize the used kegs, and distributors need to make sure the restaurant is set up with the right kind of delivery apparatus.  Once those elements are in place, roll out the barrels.


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WINE IN AN ALUMINUM BOTTLE

Alternative containers for wine are all the rage lately.  Boxes, bags, pouches and kegs are all getting their turn to show how well they keep the wine, and how well they fit into our lifestyles.

Flasq Wines comes from Napa Valley-based JT Wines, and they are showing their mettle by packaging their wine in metal.  Their aluminum bottles are 100% recyclable, quick-chilling and they are great for taking wine on the go, since they won't break.

Flasq says their 375ml bottles chill five times faster than glass bottles and they leave a carbon footprint 35% less than glass since the cases are so much lighter to ship.  The bottles are lined so the wine does not experience contact with the aluminum, and no light gets into the bottle, helping to further preserve the wine inside.

The bottles were launched in January 2011 with Merlot and Chardonnay sourced from Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties.  Now Flasq has released Cuvée Blanc made with grapes from Alexander Valley.

The Flasq Cuvée Blanc is 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 19% Viognier and 1% Moscato.  JT Wines' CEO, Tim McDonald, says that millennials have responded warmly to the new wine.  He says, "Responding to the growing popularity of sweeter wines across the country, particularly the coined 'Moscato Madness,' Cuvée Blanc is an easy drinking wine with attractive varietal-specific complexity and rich flavor for which our customers have been asking."

Flasq wines sell for around $7 per 375ml bottle.


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EXPANDING WINE RACK

Clever designers have come up with a neat way to store your wine while saving space when you're down to just a couple of bottles.  In the Now And Zin household, we don't let our supply drop to such dangerously low levels, but if you only store from one or two bottles to eight at a time, you may want to check out the Mirage wine rack.

The Mirage Augmentable wine rack is a collapsible wooden rack which expands to accommodate the number of bottles.  As you remove the bottles, it gets smaller, saving countertop space.  Fully expanded, its two bottles by four configuration is about 15 inches wide, and only nine inches tall.

The price listed is about $45, much cheaper than a full-size wine rack but more expensive than other 8-bottle storage options.

Online, I found several nice looking wooden racks designed to hold eight wine bottles in a diamond configuration for about half the price of the Mirage.


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WINE IN A BAG

Wine containers are getting a lot of scrutiny lately as consumers look for environmentally friendly solutions and better prices on the wine and shipping costs.  Plastic bottles and boxes have already made their way into the marketplace.  Now there's the Astrapouch.

Edward Deitch wrote recently in his Vint-ed column about this alternative wine container.  It's a bag, without the box, which reminds Ed of an I-V drip bag.  He says they also look rather like a large version of the kind of containers in which juice drinks for kids come packaged.

He tried a California North Coast Sauvignon Blanc packaged in the Astrapouch, and reported that it was good, but not great.

The one-and-a-half liter bag is designed to make wine more easily portable.  It spreads at the bottom, so it can stand up in the fridge and features a spout for dispensing the wine.  Holes at the top of the bag make it easy to carry.  The maker of the Astrapouch claims they keep their contents fresh for up to 30 days.

The bags would seem to be environmentally proper, and as for shipping costs, Deitch reports the weight of the Astrapouch is 98% wine, so you save money on the cost shipping heavy glass bottles.