Why glass bottles might be holding wine back

A glass bottle on a white tablecloth. A cork pulled with ceremony. The glug-glug into polished stemware. It feels like wine. But here's a question worth sipping slowly: what if the bottle, the very thing we romanticise, is also part of why wine hasn't moved with the times?

The rest of the world is moving. To the beach, to the park, to the weeknight sofa. Wine is starting to come along, but not always in bottles. Cans, boxes and cartons are pouring in, and they're not just cheaper. They're smarter.

My view: wine hasn't lost younger drinkers to sobriety so much as to format. You can carry a can to the beach. You can't easily carry a 750 ml bottle, a corkscrew and two stems. Maybe it's time we stopped asking whether wine in a can is good enough, and started asking where glass still makes sense.

The places glass can't go

Glass is beautiful, but it's heavy, it breaks, and plenty of beaches, pools, parks and festivals don't allow it. It needs a tool. It asks for glassware. A bottle is ceremony; a can is freedom. A single-serve can slips into a cool box like a soft drink. A box sits happily on a fridge shelf. Cartons are made for camping, picnics and rooftops.

This is less about rejecting tradition and more about letting wine belong to more places: from the trail to the tailgate.

The green case: lighter is cleaner

Glass is heavy, and weight costs energy every mile it travels. One producer's own numbers make the point. Tablas Creek, in Paso Robles, California, has put a small part of its Patelin de Tablas into 3-litre bag-in-box since the 2021 vintage. It says a full box weighs 7 pounds, against 11 pounds for the four bottles it replaces, with a carbon footprint 84% lower than glass.

If we love the land where wine is grown, we should care what it's shipped in.

What each format is good at

Cost isn't cheap, it's smart

A 3-litre box holds as much as four bottles, with far less packaging to make and ship. Cans let you try a new wine without committing to a whole bottle. Wine becomes a weekday ritual, not just a weekend event. This isn't about discount. It's about access, and letting wine fit more comfortably into more lives.

No tools. No waste. No rules.

Pop a can. Pour from a box. Twist a cap. That's it. No corkscrew needed. In a box, the bag folds in on itself as you pour, so air stays out, and Tablas Creek says its box keeps for several weeks in the fridge once open. A can is one serving, so there's no half-bottle going flat. Suddenly you're not pouring half a bottle down the sink on Tuesday. You're enjoying wine on your terms: how much, when and where.

So why does glass still dominate?

Because it's beautiful. Because it's history. Because we've been told it means quality. And for wines meant to age for years, glass and cork are still the proven choice. But maybe what we need isn't prettier packaging. It's a wider view of wine: one that includes corks and cans, elegance and ease.

Tradition doesn't have to be a trap. Glass will always have a place. But so should the wine we drink at the lake. The wine we toss in a backpack. The wine we open with a finger, not a key.

The last word

Maybe the future of wine isn't only about what's inside the bottle, but whether there needs to be a bottle at all. Wine should meet you where you are: poolside, on the porch, at the end of a long day. A good sip doesn't care about tradition. It cares that you're there to taste it.

“It's not less wine. It's just more places to drink it.”

Wine is changing in the glass too: read what NoLo wine is. Run a winery and wondering how to reach the drinkers who left? See Insights for wineries.

Questions people ask