Day 22: Sofia Blanc de Blancs

Curious about the trend of portable single-servings of wine — MANCAN, anyone? — I started asking around for opinions on one wine in particular that I could easily find at my local Target store: the Sofia Mini, a Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine from California in 187 ml aluminum cans (about .75 cup).

“It looks like a can of V8 juice.”

“It looks like a can they give you at a sports event.”

“Soda comes in a can like that now.”

“These are like the small little cans you get on an airplane.”

And, my personal favorite, via a Tweet: “I stock cans of Sofia in the fridge of my RV. There. My secret’s out. #guiltypleasures #emergencybubbles”

There are so many great ideas when it comes to portable single-servings of wine, emergency or not: the cans are recyclable, they’re less expensive, they cool faster, and they’re simply different. They’re easily carried along to rooftop parties, or camping, or into sporting events where glass isn’t allowed.

But then, at least with the Sofia, there are the straws. Which are very much like the juice box straws our kids used to use. Which may or may not be an association you want to have, when it comes to your .75 cup of wine.

For us it was a No.

“I don’t like drinking wine from a straw,” my husband said. “For me that’s a big barrier. It’s already a lot, to drink from a can. But the straw is too much.”

I tend to agree, though we both would probably be more forgiving if we were in the midst of a fun crowd of people, at a rooftop party or a soccer game, who were drinking wine in exactly the same way.

Which may in fact be the point, or most of the point: this wine is most enjoyable when we drink it among friends. This isn’t a wine for brooding, and it doesn’t work well as a prop for an isolated drinking experience. There are some wines that I’m frankly happy to drink when I’m alone but this wine, and this experience of wine, isn’t one of them.

I’m okay with that.

Quick Background Note: The Blue Collar Wine Guide is a 30-day, 30-wine experiment that looks at some of the world’s most popular, consumer-friendly wines. The idea is to take off my wine-writer shoes and stand instead in the shoes of Jane-and-Joe-in-front-of-a-wall-of-wine. Thank you for reading today’s post!