Canned Wine Co. – Interview With Ben Franks

The love of sparkling wine is infinite, a language that everyone can understand, a sparkle that can shine in anyone’s glass, it can connect people, brings them together and places a smile on faces around the world.

In this exclusive feature on Glass of Bubbly, we speak with Ben Franks, one of the owners and CCO of Canned Wine Co. discussing the topic of Canned Wines, along with his journey into the wine industry and one of his favourite bubbly memories.

It’s Great To Speak With You, Ben, Can You Tell Us A Little About Yourself & How Your Incredible Journey Into The Wine Industry Began?

“I ran a student magazine while in sixth form and university and one of my first jobs was a part-time role at Waitrose in the wine department. As an aspiring writer someone gave me a piece of advice I’ll always remember: ‘If you’re a great writer you can write about anything; a good writer needs to specialise.’ I tried food first, but ended up enjoying it too much so wrote no notes, so I turned my attention to wine. I managed to persuade the branch manager at Waitrose to give me a budget to review a wine each week for my magazine and the internal newsletter. It was my first foray into wine journalism, and I carved out a bit of a specialism writing about English wines. I did my WSET L2, graduated, and launched Ben Franks Wine – a consultancy I still run today. A year later, Gyorgy Zsiga and I co-founded Novel Wines, which went on to win five consecutive awards for its central and eastern European range and it’s been exciting venture after exciting venture since.

Today I’m in the Canned Wine Co. team, which I co-founded with Simon Rollings in 2019, and we’re innovating in the premium single serve sector. As a wine company first, we wanted to put amazing European wines in cans for when you don’t want to open a whole bottle. We’re working with some of the best, like Markus Huber for our Gruner Veltliner and Norrel Robertson MW for our Old Vine Garnacha, and it’s such a joy to feel like we’re contributing to real change in the wine trade. Here’s to a more sustainable, vibrant wine scene.”

Do You Remember Your First Experience With Sparkling Wine? When It Was And What Kind Of Label It Was?

“I know that during our New Year’s Eve parties growing up, there would be some sort of fizz knocking around that I’d try and pretend to like so I could be part of the festivities. It was a Cava from Waitrose, I think. I actually found it took me a while to truly appreciate sparkling wine and all its variety. It probably came around the early days of Novel Wines, when I was tasting more widely and my palate had gotten more used to acidity in wine as I matured. Today I love zesty, more mature Chardonnay-based sparkling wines. Some of my most memorable tasting experiences though were in exploring something new in fizz, whether it was English (particularly Bluestone Vineyards and Raimes), the Casa Valduga and Geiss fizz from Brazil, or the stunning Istenic wines from Slovenia.”

How Rewarding And Challenging Is Managing Canned Wine Company?

“Simon and I work well together. Simon has an MBA and experience with big names like Future PLC and Hello Fresh, bringing the ambition of fast-growth and business structure to Canned Wine Co. Whereas I’ve started and grown wine companies and consulted on brands entering the market, been through the wringer, and become a business survivor. It means we can tackle a great deal of challenges as a duo. We are creating a market in the premium can space, so it’s certainly a challenge when you’re the first mover, but the rewards are aplenty: National Trust was our first big customer, listing across their estate in England and Wales and bringing their first rose wine in; licensing a Van Gogh for our limited release branded Gruner with The National Gallery; supplying the official caterers to The Championships, Wimbledon; getting on the shelves in Harrods; and rolling out to over 30 venues in the Ambassador Theatre Group. This September we’re going into Waitrose. It’s all very exciting!”

When Choosing A New Wine To Can, What Aspects Are Most Important For You And The Company?

“Given I’m speaking to you guys, we should talk about the Sparkling Chardonnay in our Canned Wine Co. Varietal Range. This is an exciting project because we could see lots of fizz popping up in cans from the early days and we always wanted to do something a bit different. We sourced a base wine Chardonnay from Monferrato in Italy and decided to start new product development to get as close to ‘Champagne in can’ as we could stylistically. Our first edition, with the 2022 vintage, was tank fermented with one month on lees and canned brut at 2.7 bar pressure. It is a clean, fruity-forward and smooth mousse fizz. Most canned wine with bubbles is carbonated on the line, but by transferring from pressurised tanks we got a softer, more attractive texture to the wine. The second edition, also 2022, received 10 months’ lees-ageing in pressurised tanks. It brings more creaminess and better fruit integration. Next, I wanted to blend in a little barrel-fermented Chardonnay to add some biscuity and dried fruit notes. I love this kind of work because we can be bold and push the boundaries. The important thing is we’re wine first, so we want to bring that experience we all love about wine to every one of our customers.”

Can You Share With Us Some Of The Countries And Locations Around The World That You Can Enjoy A Can Of Canned Wine?

“In our Varietal Range, which we built for the on-trade, we have a Gruner and St Laurent from Austria – the St Laurent was a real passion project and is made by Walter Glatzer and his family, a Grenache Rosé and organic Viognier from the south of France, Norrel’s Old Vine Garnacha from dry-farmed vines in Aragon, Spain, and our Sparkling Chardonnay from Italy. Our Heritage Range, which is stocked in Ocado and Waitrose, features a Verdejo from Javier Sanz in Rueda and a Gamay from Lionel Gosseaume in the Loire Valley. Both are fantastic winemakers.

Last year, we also bought The Copper Crew brand, which features four organic wines from Tenuta Viglione in Puglia, a winery owned by Giovanni Zullo and his family. That range includes a varietal Fiano and Negroamaro, as well as a Primitivo-based Rosato and a Bianco Spritz, also from Fiano. We’re keeping the wineries we buy from to Europe because there’s so much to explore on our doorstep and we’re just getting started.”

What Future Plans Can Enthusiasts Of Canned Wine Co. Look Forward To In The Coming Years?

“You’ll be seeing our brands out and about in more places, and we’re always looking for new varieties and opportunities to bring into the single serve format. We’ve just released the organic Bianco Spritz for The Copper Crew, which is being poured in Brentford FC in London and in Anvil Arts in Basingstoke already. Our new consumer website will give customers the opportunity to ‘build a box’ and mix and match their favourite wines from our range, which we’re really excited about. I’ve also got new grape varieties lined up, so watch this space!”

Can You Share With Us One Of The Most Memorable Experiences You’ve Enjoyed With A Glass of Bubbly?

“In the early days of getting into wine – I was still at University in my third year – I attended my first London Wine Fair. I’d done an event or two with a group called The Champagne Guys and they invited me to come along and taste the sparkling wines from Guy Charbaut in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Champagne. I was aware my great uncle Malcolm had been in the wine trade, but I didn’t know much about what he did, and when we arrived at Guy Charbaut’s stand and I said my surname was Franks, Nathalie and Xavier Charbaut lit up. We chatted about Malcolm and when he used to import their Champagnes many years before. They ducked under the table and brought out a bottle of 1997 Memory Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru. It is one of the few wines I can vividly remember tasting. Soft, elegant, brimming with dried citrus fruit and green apple, with a gentle touch of lees-ageing and biscuit. A beautiful wine!”

Thank you Ben Franks, for sharing your story and experiences with us and we at Glass of Bubbly wish you the very best for the future!

Images belong to Ben Franks & Canned Wine Co. Glass of Bubbly was granted permission to use them.