New player in the single-serve packaging game aims to change the perception of the category with design.
Erin Kirschenmann
IN AN ON-THE-GO, MOBILE society, the ease and convenience of single-serve packaging has reached every consumable category, from potato chips to dessert. In the beverage world, beer has been the immediate favorite as cans and bottles easily lend themselves to picnickers, travelers and the portion-control conscious. Single-serve, on-the-go-friendly wine has emerged as a category all its own in the last decade, ready to compete against beer in this market. For many of those years, single-serve wines—in a can, pouch or PET—contained low-priced wines, and the general consumer quickly adopted the perception that wine in such an alternative package was not high-quality.
Now there is a new player in the packaging supply game that is trying to help continue the push to change that perception. When the opportunity to purchase the right to a 12-year-proven, French-designed and -patented packaging technology came along, Bill Hamilton seized it, and the result is ONE87 Wine and Cocktails. He also obtained the exclusive distribution for, and co-packs with, the OneGlassWine filling system in North America.
“The idea of 187 ml servings of wine is not particularly new. The mere fact that the consumer purchases wine in these containers shows just how strong the demand is for a single-serve wine,” said Hamilton. “We live in a portion-control society with all consumables, for a variety of reasons, yet the sensitivities of wine made it impossible to adequately preserve the characteris- tics that make wine the complex, unique beverage that it is. What was missing was the technology to handle the sensitivities of wine so that ‘fine wines’ may be enjoyed in single-serving and not relegated to Two-buck Chuck.”
Product Features
ONE87’s single-serve packaging is made from a food-grade PET plastic guaranteed for a 12-month shelf life and is 100 percent recyclable. To bottle, wine is dispensed into the container while the OneWineGlass filling system simultaneously removes oxygen from the headspace and inserts a layer of inert gases in its place. The patented technology allows for a vacuum-seal to maintain freshness and preserve the wine. ONE87’s operations protocol is Global Food Safety Initiative-compliant and will be Safe Quality Food-cer- tified later this year.
Design-wise, ONE87 alternatives have some interesting features that help to create the illusion of drinking from a regular wine glass. A glass-like rim, Hamilton said, “delivers a soothing, glass-like drinking experience.” In addition, an easily attachable and detachable stem provides the opportunity to drink the wine more casually (stemless) or in a more formal manner (with the stem attached).
The design alone certainly lends itself to a higher-end drinking experience. With a stem, fingerprints are less likely to mark up the bowl, and the glass won’t be warmed up through body heat. Traditionalists will also appreciate the more conventional swirling ability and perceived sophistication of an included stem.
“I have studied this market segment for almost three years and, in doing so, applied more than 30 years of varied business/entrepreneurial experiences,” said Hamilton. “We are not a ‘me too’ product/solution; we are the ‘new and best, go-to’ product/solution.”
60 October 2016 WBM
ONE87 WINE AND COCKTAILS
Hamilton has invited winemakers and marketers skeptical of the process/ alternative packaging to submit a 15-gallon keg of bottle-ready wine to be packaged for samples at no cost.
“We are simply the very best single-serve wine option for both off-premise, on-premise and direct-to-consumer, hands-down,” he said. “What better way to create interest in your range of labels than by offering mixed varietal case- packs, of exceptionally presented, single-serve vessels from our collection. We believe this will increase DTC sales as it relieves the consumer of that fear of buying a bottle of something they really didn’t care for.”