From bottles to bags to boxes, we can’t get enough of the different ways to consume our wine. The cheapos among us turn to wine in a box and the rowdy partiers just pull out the bag. Obviously we could debate screw top vs. cork bottles forever – don’t get us started. Us DIA-ers are very excited about a spreading trend in wine drinking: kegs.
The latest and greatest trend is restaurants and bars having premium wines available on tap just like your favorite beers. Many wineries are now selling their wine in kegs and bars are taking advantage of the growing trend. Kegged wine, which started on the west coast and is now spreading throughout the country, has major benefits for both the bar and the wino drinking it.
Lasts Longer: How many times have you gotten home from a long day, went for a bottle of red you opened over the weekend, only to find it had spoiled? We feel your pain. Restaurants deal with this problem too, except they don’t see just wine going down the drain, they see cash. Wine kegs keep the wine from being exposed to oxygen, allowing the wine stay fresh for weeks rather than days. It is a simple concept that works, “It’s all about keeping wine better longer,” says Andrew Hoffman, the general manager at Comal in Berkeley, CA. who have been serving wine in their kegs for the past couple years.
Cheaper: Other than keeping our wine fresh, kegs of vino offer a cheaper way for us to experience quality wine at an affordable price. Kegged wine save money for the bars and restaurants by avoiding waste and lets them sell their wine to costumers at a cheap price. It’s a win-win situation. What better way to entice people to drink wine than sell it for half the price?
Environmentally Friendly: Instead of recycling bottles, bars can send their kegs back to be cleaned and refilled. Green and brings you fresh wine. Need we say more?
Our only caution to draft wine is what’s actually inside the kegs. Only wines that can be consumed right away (already aged) should be kegged. Wines that are best aged for several years in the bottle should never be in a keg.
We’re all about wine on tap. If you have had or plan to try wine on tap, leave us a comment to talk it out.