Canned Wine Group is excited to partner with the London Wine Fair and Wine Buyer Awards in a new three-year partnership. The deal will see the Group exhibiting both its Canned Wine Co. flagship brand and The Copper Crew organic wines.
Ben Franks, co-founder and CCO at Canned Wine Group said: “London Wine Fair is the UK’s leading trade show for wine. It has provided a brilliant opportunity to continue the conversation of drinking less, but better wines with our premium range of varietal, vintage wines in can.”
“Our first year with the London Wine Fair was as a founding member of the Wine Traders for Alternative Formats (WTAF), which was a great way to collectively experience exhibiting at London Wine Fair,” Simon Rollings, founder and CEO at Canned Wine Group commented. “In following years, we could see the opportunity to have a bigger presence and make a statement in planting the flag for quality single serve wines in can. We elevated the can offering by bringing an experiential bar and took a larger space to share the brand proudly with the wine trade. It proved the can is every bit as credible as the bottle in delivering quality wines.”
For the last two years, Canned Wine Group has hosted a panel talk on the centre stage. Elena Whitehead, Trade Marketing Manager at the company, said: “In 2023 we debated whether you can be both certified organic and sustainable, inviting our winemakers Norrel Robertson MW from El Escocés Volante in Spain and Mélanie Maurin from Famille d’Exea in France, as well as technical packaging expert Jennifer Bond. In 2024 we led a panel titled ‘How women are driving the future of wine’ with Kim Wilson from North South Wines, Emma Penman from Waitrose, Zoe Driver from Black Chalk Wine, Muriel Chatel from Sustainable Wine Solutions, and Danielle Youds from Liverpool Philharmonic.
“These talks give us a fantastic opportunity to shine the spotlight onto topics that effect the whole of the wine trade, while sharing what Canned Wine Group is doing to influence these topics and push for better practises in the wine industry. Better quality, better ethics, and better for the planet.”
As part of the new partnership, Canned Wine Group is also excited to join as a sponsor of the Wine Buyer Awards.
Franks, who has been described by Decanter Magazine as ‘One of the UK’s leading wine buyers’ and handles the wine buying at Canned Wine Group, commented: “Buying is not just important for curating the right range of wines but by buying with sustainability in mind you can have a huge impact on your supply chain. Canned Wine Group has been successful enough to purchase significant volumes of wine, which means we can begin to help influence and leverage better sustainability practices upstream, as well as driving a larger market share for alternative packaging.”
Marieke Hammes, the Group’s Head of Operations & Sustainability, also shared: “The partnership is an opportunity for us to put sustainability at the heart of wine innovation. The London Wine Fair’s partners in the Porto Protocol, Drinks Trust, Sustainable Wine Roundtable, and others, is a great start. We’re looking forward to working with them and joining more conversations in driving sustainable practices.”
Canned Wine Group has exhibited at London Wine Fair since 2022 and has committed to exhibiting at the show until 2027 under the new deal.
Mara Veith, London Wine Fair’s Sales Director comments: “On behalf of the London Wine Fair, I would like to express our immense excitement to work with The Canned Wine Group. It is truly a privilege to be joining forces with such an innovative and forward-thinking company.
We are thrilled to see Canned Wine Group’s continued commitment to championing alternative formats and sustainability within the wine industry. Their contributions, including the incredible success of your experiential bar and panel talks, are an inspiring demonstration of how quality and innovation can go hand in hand. The conversation around “better, but less” is one that resonates deeply with us, and it’s wonderful to see how your leadership in canned wine is transforming the market.
We are equally excited about your new sponsorship of the Wine Buyer Awards Shortlist Party and goody bag, a new feature for 2025 and the opportunity it brings to spotlight the critical work being done by thought leaders like Ben, Simon, and Elena. The work we are doing in partnership around sustainability is paving the way for a brighter, more ethical future in wine.
We are looking forward to working closely together over the next three years and beyond. Canned Wine Group is a perfect example of how the wine industry can evolve with creativity, quality, and responsibility at its core. We can’t wait to see the continued impact they will have at London Wine Fair and in the wider drinks trade.
Here’s to a successful partnership and to a future of better practices and innovation in wine!”
The 2025 London Wine Fair will take place at Olympia from 19th to 21st May.
