For a decade, Underwood wine has been leading a sustainable revolution, and now, we’re raising a can to our CANNIVERSARY – 10 spectacular years of wine in cans!
Drinking Underwood isn’t just a taste sensation, it’s a celebration of wine no matter the container. It’s helping to level the playing field by removing the “rules” and the stuffiness around drinking wine — #pinkiesdown. It means 95% less energy, endless recyclability, and diverting heaps of waste from landfills.
With each can, you’re not just enjoying fine wine, you’re toasting to a decade of making sustainability a priority, one sip at a time.
Happy CANNIVERSARY to UNDERWOOD!
We’re just getting started.
WINE CANS TIMELINE:
2012 – On a random Sunday an email was sent from UWC founder, Ryan Harms, to his Union team.
2013 – Celeste, a French Citroën truck was purchased and remodeled to be a portable wine bar.
2013 – Underwood Pinot Noir in a can was debuted at Feast PDX in September, a food festival in Portland, Oregon.
2014 – Underwood begins to sell Oregon Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in big beer-sized 375ml cans!
2015 – 1 Million Cans Sold!
2016 – Underwood Bubbles was added to the lineup.
2016 – Celeste hits the open road for the first time to share the love of canned wine at festivals and events.
2017 – Underwood Rosé Bubbles makes it a 5-can lineup!
2018 – Union Wine Co. builds the industry’s first high-speed canning line with a canning capability of 200 cans/min.
2019 – Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Rose are produced in single serving 250ml “slim” cans for special events.
ALUMINUM CAN FACTS:
Aluminum cans are 100% infinitely recyclable.
Cans don’t absorb light that can damage wine.
Cans are less expensive to produce & ship.
Cans can go anywhere.
Cans created a new consumer experience.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
In 10 years…
Underwood has produced 41 million cans which is equivalent to 1.7 million cases of 750ml bottles.
The smaller, lighter can allowed Underwood to ship nearly 24 million fewer pounds from the winery.
This kept nearly 7.9 million pounds of carbon from entering the atmosphere.
THE PRESS THOSE FIRST FEW YEARS WAS AMAZING:
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY CAN DESIGNS OVER THE YEARS:
Underwood added a couple of “coolers” early on—our Riesling Radler took a fun spin on a more traditional beer radler, and our Strawberrry Cooler made with real strawberry puree was both tasty and adorable. Later, we created a low alcohol Spritz, and a White Haute Sangria in partnership with Marshall’s Haute Sauce. Our Nouveau was a hit in bottle so…a can of Nouveau seemed like a gimme.
We designed several cans that honor what we call our “Give Back” partnerships with the The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Foundation, Planned Parenthood & Wild Fang, and Keep Oregon Green. We also partnered with local Portland artist, Lisa Congdon, to design what we think of as our Pride can.
Specially designed slim cans worked great for our partnership with the Timbers/Thorns FC organization.
Cheers to wine in cans, and the next 10 years!
