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Bev Wines Review – Canned Wine Best For Sipping Outside

Canned wines are starting to take the world by storm, and one female-led, California producer, Bev, is leaning into this one hard with numerous varieties available for direct shipping nationwide (included in every order).

We were contacted by Bev to see if we wanted to try out their wines for a review, and of course, had to say yes.

As it turns out, these were the first canned wines we've ever had, and they most certainly will not be the last.

Note: We received these wines complimentary for this review. All opinions are our own. Bev Wines also has provided 20% off one-time orders for our readers with the discount code THEGRAPEPURSUIT as well. Click here to check out their inventory!

Our first 100% varietal Picpoul comes not from the more well-known regions of Europe but rather the Columbia Valley of Oregon from Flat Brim Wines.

This bottle is rather aptly named Not Basic as it is an orange wine made with skin contact for two weeks and foot trodden regularly and is something you don't see all too often. (So you can see why the Not Basic name works.)

While we noted some Brettanomyces and possibly reduction on the nose that took away from this one a bit for our liking, we have to say it was rather interesting all the same!

When we travel, we always like to visit liquor stores and privately operated wine shops to see what kind of unique bottles we can find. Part of this is simply that we love wine, but also because Pennsylvania has a monopoly on liquor sales and the options you can find outside of special orders are inherently limited.

So, naturally, we had to pop around to some wine stores in Boston when visiting the city.

As soon as we walked into The Urban Grape near Copley Square, we knew we were in the right place. This one is different than most stores!

Petit Verdot is one of those grapes we often see only in small percentages in a bottle often because it is late-ripening (at risk of not being fully developed) and adds big color and tannin to the blend.

So when we found Azamor's pure varietal bottle of this one, of course we had to buy it.

But we approached this one with a bit of hesitation since we knew that it could've been an intense tannin bomb. Thankfully, while would still say that the tannins in this one are firmly high, the bottle was rather approachable at seven years old and worked beautifully with a steak!

Normally when we think of the grape Macabeo, it is in the context of Cava. Even there, this grape is often used for blending purposes and can be a small percentage of the overall makeup of any given glass of sparkling.

Since our quest here is to try every grape variety in the world as close to we can get as pure, single varietal expressions, you know we had to pick up a bottle of Frontonio “Microcosmico” Macabeo when we saw it.

This single varietal grape stands on its own with this rather delicious bottle (with bonus points for being six years old, too)!

Shenandoah Valley has been making a name for itself as a prominent AVA for Virginia grapes, and during my travels around northern Virginia (exploring places like Skyline Drive and Shenandoah Caverns), I was fortunate enough to visit several wineries and vineyards near Shenandoah National Park.

If you find yourself nearby and are in the mood for a glass of wine, a flight or simply want to have a great view while picking up some bottles to go you'll do well to check out the following wineries in Shenandoah Valley!

Note: The wineries featured in this guide are geographically in what we'd consider northern Virginia, but not the Northern Virginia AVA (a separate wine region to the east). All of the wineries below are featured in Shenandoah Valley AVA but we hope to add more spots from nearby AVAs like Northern Virginia and Monticello in the future as they are all within close proximity!

During my time exploring northern Virginia wineries, I found pretty quickly that I had an affinity for the white wines of the region. This was especially true at Shenandoah Vineyards where I found that I absolutely adored their base white blend for being a wonderful off-dry wine.

This white blend includes 51% of Seyval Blanc, 21% Traminette, 11% Chardonnay, 9% Vidal, and 8% Cayuga and certainly packed a punch with a nice hit of tropical flavors along with some minerality and salinity on the nose for good measure.

As it turns out, the bottle I bought at the winery lasted all of about three days before we opened it up at home.

The more I drink wines from the Rhone region of France, the more I start to realize how much I love the area and the grapes that are grown there.

This is especially true of the Syrah from the Northern Rhone as places like Hermitage, Cote Rotie, and others make some of the finest styles of this wine you can ever have.

Cave de Tain's Hermitage 2014 was no different and was a delightful bottle all around that we enjoyed with a burger of all things!

It is easy to get stuck in the habit of only drinking Chianti when it comes to the Sangiovese grape, if only because wine from this region is plentiful all over the world.

But there are other regions in Italy that are known for this particular grape, and if you find that you love the flavors of Chianti then you may want to look for Brunello di Montalcino as another delicious region to explore.

Just be prepared for a bit of a higher price as these come with a minimum of five years' aging before release!

When you think of the Furmint grape, your first thoughts make go to the Hungarian dessert wine Tokaji (5 or 6 puttonyos). This sweet, botrytized dessert wine is known the world over for its residual sugar content and intense flavors.

But, like most grapes made into dessert wine, Furmint is also used to make dry wines as well that are sometimes much harder to come by. When we found a dry Furmint from The Oddity, we knew we had to try it.

Bev Wines Review – Canned Wine Best For Sipping Outside

Flat Brim Wines Not Basic Picpoul 2019 Review

The Urban Grape is Our Kind of Boston Wine Store

Azamor Petit Verdot 2014 Review – Approachable With High Tannin

Frontonio Microcosmico Macabeo 2015 Review – Not Just in Cava

5 Shenandoah Valley Wineries to Visit for a Glass and Views

Shenandoah Vineyard’s Blanc 2018 Review – Off-Dry and Tropical

Cave de Tain Hermitage 2014 Review – A Stellar Syrah

Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino 2015 Review – Fruit and Spice Bomb

The Oddity Furmint 2016 Review – Youthful White Flavors