When we last surveyed the canned wine landscape, back in 2021, we didn’t really know what to expect. Still in its adolescence, the category had only just begun to shed the kitschy supermarket image associated with early efforts such as the Sofia Mini, the ubiquitous single-serve sparkler (complete with a straw adhered to the can) introduced by Francis Ford Coppola Winery in 2004.
Imagine our surprise when we discovered the miraculous influx of offbeat, ambitious examples that had materialized on shelves seemingly overnight. As I observed at the time, situating this revolution within the wider rise of natural wine, canned wine has exploded into a full spectrum of styles, from piquette to pét-nat.
So when we recently gathered at Punch HQ to renew the exercise, we had every reason for optimism. Judging by the kaleidoscopic array of aluminum offerings assembled before us—many of them decked out in the same trippy cartoon labels that represent natural wine’s visual lingua franca—it struck us how rapidly the playing field had expanded even further. Overwhelmingly, the options now include a disproportionate number of natural wines.
In retrospect, it was probably inevitable that progressive natural winemakers, both foreign and domestic, would take to capturing “glou-glou” in a can. Those wines already aspire to quench one’s thirst, take well to a chill and avoid excess alcohol and extraction. And if making wine more accessible is central to the movement’s mission, what could telegraph those ideals better than a lovable, chuggable, low-key can of the stuff?
Theoretically, this is cause for celebration. As with so many utopian dreams, however, praxis tends to be the tricky part. For all their utilitarian charm, cans don’t exactly provide optimal conditions for the storage and transport of wine. The high potential for heat damage makes it critical to secure the freshest can possible—especially when the contents of said can were produced in the complete absence of sulfur. Sadly, a high percentage of the cans in our rotation suffered from an all-too-familiar set of afflictions (mouse, brett, volatile acidity) that came close to triggering a nostalgia for the days of the Sofia Mini.
There’s a time and place to engage in a meaningful conversation about the cultural relativity of taste and the increasingly subjective criteria for determining what qualifies as a flawed wine. But that time and place will never be when you’re sweating by the pool on a hot August day, and all you want is a freshly cracked can of crisp, cold wine from the bottom of the cooler.
Nevertheless, we persisted, eventually making our way through nearly 40 different cans. In the end, the task afforded us a useful opportunity to reflect upon a timely question: Now that we’re canning wines of every possible style, from the standard mass-market fare to the weirdest fringes of the avant-garde, what do we actually want a canned wine to be?
There’s no single answer. But it wasn’t enough, we determined, for any individual example to be objectively tasty wine; it needed to justify its packaging. Each wine that made our final cut succeeded not only as a high-quality wine, but specifically as a high-quality canned wine. Different from one another as they may be, it’s also worth noting that every wine mentioned below delivered enough depth and substance to hold its own over the course of a meal, occupying some version of that sweet spot between complexity and crushability. Without any further ado, here are the cans that deserve a spot in your cooler this summer.
SPARKLING
Artomaña Txakolina Xarmant
If there was ever a traditional wine style built for the can, it’s Spanish txakoli, the Basque Country’s spritzy summertime staple. Leave it to the good folks at De Maison Selections to partner with one of the area’s top producers to bring us this textbook take on the genre, which has, for several years running, become one of the most popular cans on the market. In fact, according to the importer, they’ve sold out of the wine until 2025, so if you spot a spare four-pack on the shelf of your local, don’t hesitate.
- Price: $8 (250 milliliters)
- ABV: 11.5%
No Fine Print Lil Fizz
California’s No Fine Print project also bottles this wine under crown cap in a standard 750-milliliter format, which tells you all you need to know about the casual pét-nat–adjacent vibe they’re aiming for with this carbonated mix of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay (plus a splash of pinot noir rosé for texture). Still, a perceptible yeasty, lees-y quality elevates this beyond the ordinary, with succulent flavors of citrus peel and white peach.
- Price: $20 (four 250-milliliter cans)
- ABV: 12%
Tendu Dunnigan Hills Rosé Bubbles
The second label of New California icon Steve Matthiasson, Tendu began as a simple red and white blend bottled in a liter format. It has since expanded to include varietal wines as well as this canned, ever-so-slightly effervescent rosé. All are meant to showcase lesser-known varieties and vineyard sites at entry-level price points with minimal intervention. A blend of red and white French and Italian varieties from the Central Valley, this clocks in at a friendly 11.5 percent ABV and is salty, bright and full of fresh red fruit—like pink txakoli through a sunny California lens.
- Price: $9 (375 milliliters)
- ABV: 11.5%
WHITE
Weingut Leitz Leitz Out
From one of the Rheingau’s most famous names, this zippy entry-level expression is always a top value in German riesling, and the canned format only highlights why. Rendered in a faintly off-dry feinherb style, it cleans up nicely, with bracing acidity and a pop of wet slate minerality on the finish. Bring on the hot dogs.
- Price: $7 (250 milliliters)
- ABV: 10.5%
ROSÉ / SKIN CONTACT
Scribe Winery Una Lou Rosé
If what you desire is a crisp, classic rosé and you want it in the convenience of a can, Scribe’s pinot noir has you covered. Full of white peaches and pickled watermelon, with a delicate floral aspect reminiscent of fresh linen, it’s the platonic ideal of pink wine and a perfect candidate for the format.
- Price: $10 (375 milliliters)
- ABV: 11.5%
Djuce Meinklang Rosa
In collaboration with Brooklyn-based importer Zev Rovine, the Djuce project partners with a “who’s who” of natural wine icons—including Abruzzo’s Francesco Cirelli and Catalunya’s Finca Parera—to package their wines in sustainable, user-friendly cans. Courtesy of Austria’s virally famous Meinklang estate, with its endlessly memeable bovine label, this semi-sparkling blend of zweigelt, blaufränkisch and St. Laurent drinks like a canned riff on the property’s beloved Rosa bottling, clocking in at just 11 percent alcohol and full of ripe strawberries.
- Price: $12 (250 milliliters)
- ABV: 11%
Where’s Linus Light Orange Piquette
“Where’d you go, piquette?” Punch recently asked, charting the curious rise and decline of the traditional low-ABV harvest brew repurposed as natural wine’s latest fad. Say what you will about its future, the style’s alive and well with this frothy, low-key effort from California’s Bodkin Wines. Made with the rehydrated skins of the same skin-fermented viognier winemaker Chris Christensen uses for his Orange Wine bottling, it walks a delicate tightrope between firm tannins, fresh apricot energy and a high-toned herbal character that calls out for pizza.
- Price: $10 (375 milliliters)
- ABV: 7%
RED
Broc Cellars Love Red Blend
Winemaker Chris Brockway can apparently do no wrong. The white and rosé versions of his Love lineup were also group favorites, but his red impresses most of all. A partially carbonic blend of carignan, syrah, valdiguié, mourvèdre and grenache, it’s exactly what canned wine is supposed to be, guaranteed to charm fans of the juicy reds of France’s Loire Valley.
- Price: $12 (375 milliliters)
- ABV: 12%
Prisma Pinot Noir
A sleeper hit of the tasting, Chile’s value-driven Prisma project showcases the foggy, cool-climate coastal terroir of the Lo Ovalle subregion of the Casablanca Valley. While they also make a respectable sauvignon blanc and a nervy rosé, Prisma’s pinot noir is a clear standout, bursting with crunchy sour cherry fruit and juicy acidity and avoiding the common pitfalls (excess tannin, extraction, etc.) of the canned red category.
- Price: $17 (four 250-milliliter cans)
- ABV: 13.5%
