Transitions in life, as well as in business, can lead to opportunities. That was the case for Bruno Kelle and Stella Schmidt when they bought their winery on the Golden Mile Bench in 2004, and again when they made the move to put their premium wine in cans, this past winter.
“I was looking to transition out of my career as an electronics engineer in Calgary,” Bruno recalls. “Stella and I were on our first trip to the Okanagan, it was one of those warm, bluebird April days and we were tasting wine.” The hostess, looking for a sale, asked if there was anything else she could interest them in and Bruno half jokingly replied, “You could sell us your winery.”
I won’t sell you ours, she replied, but I do know of one up the road that is for sale.
That comment led to a whirlwind of viewing winery listings, business evaluations, (Stella is an accountant) and negotiations until the couple found themselves the owners of a 10-acre property on the Golden Mile bench that became Castoro de Oro Estate Winery.
“We had talked about looking for business opportunities in the Okanagan, and it had been snowing when we left Calgary” recalls Stella. “But we had never imagined owning a winery.”
The combination of engineering know-how and accounting acumen has served them well, as both their reputation and sales have steadily increased.
“Our wines got better and we started winning awards,” says Stella. Those have included the 2017 Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence. They have been the official wine of the Vancouver International Film Festival for the last three years.
But the couple doesn’t want to operate on cruise control, and always look for new opportunities when they can see challenges on the horizon. While cruising the tradeshow floor at the Enology and Viticulture Conference in Penticton last year, Bruno got chatting with a sales rep from Vessel Packaging Company, who run speciality canning lines. “I told him no, we weren’t thinking about putting wine in cans,” he says. ‘But in the back of my mind I knew we were considering value-added opportunities to eventually support an exit strategy.”
But another crucial transition was coming up for the couple. “Our half bottles are popular for room service dining with the Fairmont hotels, but the economics were changing,” explains Stella. The price of a case of 375 ml glass bottles had gone up nearly 400% she notes, and they would have to increase the price of their half bottles significantly.
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Photo by Tom Walker
View of Castoro de Oro
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Photo by Tom Walker
Wine Shop at Castoro de Oro
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Photo by Tom Walker
Sign at Castoro de Oro
So, the idea of wine in cans ticked a lot of boxes for the couple. The innovation is taking off across the US. Cans go many places that traditional glass bottles can’t, such as the beach, the dock, a picnic or a hike. The convenient single serve size caters to individual tastes and makes sure the balance of the bottle isn’t wasted. The price point made sense for Stella as a solid alternative to their increasing bottle costs.
But would their accounts go for it? “We wondered if the idea of wine in cans would take our brand downward,” admits Stella. “But some high-end wines are going into cans in the States.”
“We have a solid reputation with one of the major grocery chains,” says Bruno. “When I went in to pitch the wine manager in Calgary his boss dropped by, picked up the can and said, ‘finally a premium BC wine in a can, I’m interested’.”
Market research is another factor, as sales of canned wines have soared since they were pioneered in Australia and the US.
In Ontario sales of canned wines hit the $1 million mark in 2015 but quadrupled to more than $4 million in just three years. In the US, sales doubled in a single year, from $19 million in 2016 to $37 million in 2017, and the trend continues skyward.
Steve Moriarty, Director of Wine and Spirits at Save On Foods, says the same is happening in BC.
“Unbelievable, to be perfectly candid,” said Moriarty. “We look at canned wines this year as a grand slam homer. Our consumers have embraced this, and I expect that at a minimum it will increase by threefold next year.”
Moriarty says Jennifer Turton-Molgat at The View Winery in Kelowna broke the barrier to canned wines in BC with her ‘Bling’ line, and now other fine wineries like Castoro de Oro and Noble Ridge are following up with different but equally compelling products.
Wine and food writer Brit Hart is a fan of Castoro’s new canned wine, and believes the category is going to take off in Canada this year.
“Canned wine is more sustainable,” Hart says. “Aluminum cans are totally recyclable while some corks and labels used in glass bottles are not, not to mention they weigh less, therefore requiring less fuel to transport.
“They’re easier to pack,” he adds, “making them perfect for picnics, camping, hiking, festivals, or whatever other activity pairs well with wine on the go.”
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Vessel Packaging
Vessel Packaging worked with Schmidt and Kelle from concept through to execution; they provided advice on wine specifications, shelf life and flavour stability, as well as the regulations on can sizes, can decoration and day-of canning logistics.
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Cans of Castoro de Oro
But for Stella and Bruno, the issue of quality was most important.
They knew right away that they didn’t want to be associated with the traditional canned beverage market. “We didn’t want to put the cans on flats and shrink wrap them, that’s not the look we wanted,” Stella explains. “And we didn’t want to go with the six-pack plastic rings used for beer and soda either.”
They settled on a custom-made 24-pack box for the 250 mL cans. “Retailers are used to handling wine by the case so that made a lot of sense to us,” says Stella. But packaging was only part of the process. Castoro de Oro was Vessel Packaging’s first wine customer, and they learned together.
Wine can’t go into the same cans as low alcohol coolers or beer, Stella explains. “Even with a specialty can, we had to have the chemistry of our wine tested to be sure that it would be suitable for canning,” she explains. “It’s important to have a good clean wine to ensure the can doesn’t deteriorate.”
Their trademark beaver in a top hat (Castoro de Oro is Latin for ‘golden beaver’) didn’t fit well on the cans and Bruno’s daughter designed a new label for them. “We wanted it to be fun, yet classy at the same time,” says Stella.
The actual canning process is not difficult, Bruno notes. “After ensuring that the initial chemistry was correct, we don’t have to do anything else to our wine,” he says.
Being early to the market with BC wine in a can is a great opportunity. “We are making history,” says Stella. Castoro de Oro offers their top three awarded wines, Merlot, Pinot Duetto rose, and Heart of Gold white blend, in cans.
“Our April release was delayed until June,” notes Stella. “But since then we have been rockin’.” Their ‘wine in a can sign’ on highway 97 is bringing millennials into the wine store and they are hearing from agents who want to put the cans into stadiums, golf courses, and the airlines.
“We have had 90 plus scores for all three canned wines,” says Bruno. “The convenience is the first selling feature, but you can still take it to a fancy dinner party.”
