What would you do if you ordered a glass of wine at a restaurant and turned to see your waiter pouring your wine from a keg?
You’d probably think they misheard your order, but in reality, they may be getting their wine from a company called Free Flow Wines.
Free Flow Wines is not a business that makes and sells wine; they provide an innovative way for wineries to package and distribute their own product. Founded in 2009 by two wine-industry veterans and a restaurateur, Free Flow Wines is a system of kegging, preserving, and serving wine on tap that has been vetted and approved by the world’s most respected wineries.
When wine gets poured through a tap, it flows through parts designed specifically for wine and never comes in contact with oxygen. The gas that pushes the wine through the tap is a special blend of 75% Nitrogen and 25% CO2; this preserves the quality and freshness of the wine, ensuring that each keg is good to the last drop. No more wasted wine when someone doesn’t finish a bottle!
In addition to increasing the quality and freshness, Free Flow Wines has also created a more environmentally friendly way to package vino. They provide some interesting facts on their website, including:
- Every new keg put into service is like taking an average car off the road for 2 years.
- The reusable steel kegs reduce the carbon footprint of the same wine poured out of bottles over a 20-year period by 96%.
- Each keg will save 2,340 lbs of trash from the landfill over its lifetime.
Wine purists are obviously scoffing at this keg concept a bit simply because it’s not part of the tradition they are used to. However, we think this could definitely be more than a fleeting trend. Wine in a keg was not created as a novelty item; it was created because it actually makes sense. Business owners and wineries will be able to make more money because less wine will ultimately go to waste and the quality of the product will be more consistent across the board. The positive environmental impact these kegs have is measureable and quite impressive as well.
What do you think – are wine kegs here to stay?