Canned wine spritzers are surging in popularity.

Classy imported wines to try - and one of them is in a $26, 3-liter pink box.

Canned wine in the summer is becoming popular, especially around the pool and around the lake. Several Texas wineries are serving their wines in cans like Llano Estacado and Messina Hof.

A view of Syrah grapes Whitecliff Vineyard on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in Olana, N.Y.

A banner that reads “Save water, drink wine!” is seen at Point Reyes Vineyards in Point Reyes Station, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2021. Since putting the winery and vineyard property on the market, the owners have received some interest from high-profile Napa vintners, including two whose wineries were damaged in the 2020 wildfires. As the impacts of climate change progress, Point Reyes, which has historically been considered too cold for wine grapes, may become a lucrative spot for wine-making.

A bottle of Pierre Moncuit brut champagne at D&M Wine and Liquor on Fillmore Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, December 30, 2020.

Wine bottles at Alley and Vine restaurant in Alameda, California on Saturday, January 15, 2022.

Erin Shields opens a bottle for tasting at Bending Branch Winery in Comfort, Texas, on Jan. 14, 2022. Hill Country wineries have exploded in popularity over the past decade, with winemakers flocking to the area because of its growing environment, views, and market for wine consumption.

Barrells of wine age in the cellar of Bending Branch Winery in Comfort, Texas, on Jan. 14, 2022. Hill Country wineries have exploded in popularity over the past decade, with winemakers flocking to the area because of its growing environment, views, and market for wine consumption.

Canned wine spritzers are surging in popularity.

Iconic brands Almaden and Inglenook say goodbye to glass and go green with new Bag-in-box (BIB) packaging (Photo: Business Wire)

I love my electric Chevy, I happily put Impossible Burger in my chili, and I use a fancy thermostat to save energy, but my commitment to fighting climate change hits a wall when it comes to drinking wine from a can.

Yet WTAF, a climate-focused wine-packaging coalition, makes an indisputable case for ditching glass bottles in most cases.

The acronym stands for Wine Traders for Alternative Formats. In the wine business, format describes the size and type of container, and coalition members advocate using cans, bags, boxes and various iterations of plastic.

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The 32 billion traditional bottles sold every year are so energy-inefficient that even plastic is better for the planet.

Warming temperatures are taking a toll on winemaking, and vintners worry about how their grapes change under stress. The industry must do their part to lower emissions, WTAF members argue, and almost 30 percent of a wine’s carbon footprint comes from the glass bottle.

“We have to take this seriously because if we don’t do something about climate change, you can forget a lot of your nice wine-producing regions,” Oli Purnell of canned wine startup The Copper Crew told the Wine Blast podcast, where I first heard about WTAF.

Glassmaking requires energy, and most wineries purchase their bottles from China, creating transportation emissions before the wine is made, according to industry data. Once filled with juice, glass adds to the emissions associated with delivering the product to consumers, which is about 13 percent of wine’s carbon footprint.

Making matters worse, many consumers associate a heavier bottle with higher-quality wine, leading some vintners to add weight where none is needed. Using 30 percent lighter bottles could reduce a bottle of wine’s carbon footprint by as much as 10 percent, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal “Sustainability.”

(A quick side note: Ernst & Young determined that using corks instead of screw-tops produces a lower carbon footprint in glass bottles. But that’s the only win for traditionalists.)

Expanding recycling efforts and including more recycled content in wine bottles helps, but nothing will reduce the climate impact more than switching to aluminum, plastic or paper packaging.

The plastic bag-in-a-box, from which my mother made many white-wine spritzes in the 1970s, is 10 times more climate-friendly than a bottle. A child’s juice box, which the industry calls aseptic cartons, would be 87 percent less impactful on the climate than a glass wine bottle, researchers at the University of Toronto calculated.

But what about how it tastes?

I bought a single-serving aluminum can of wine at a convenience store a decade ago, and I couldn’t choke down more than a few swallows. But that was not the can’s fault.

The first-movers into alternative wine formats have generally been at the low-end of the market, aiming to sell cheap wine to price-conscious young people who are more open-minded about their drink.

Unfortunately, if a consumer’s first experience with wine from a Tetra-Pak is swill, they will blame the package, not the vigneron. I confess I will forever associate boxed white wine with Sprite.

I know it’s unfair, but it’s true.

The alternative formats, particularly wine in a bag, offer so many advantages that wine lovers need to get over themselves, including me. Rather than open a 750 ml bottle when you only want a glass, wine in a bag does not oxidate. You can buy a gallon and drink it over a month.

Cans of wine and adult juice boxes are perfect for places that ban glass bottles, and they come in single-serving sizes. Wine Spectator magazine reports canned wine sales have risen from $2 million in 2012 to $183.6 million by 2020.

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Alternative formats, though, will not work for all categories. Gran Cru Burgundy, first-growth Bordeaux and other collectible wines that need a decade or more to age belong in a bottle with a cork to reach their pinnacle. Sparkling wines need a heavier bottle to contain the carbonation.

Most of the world’s wine, though, does not need such rarefied treatment; only 1 percent is collectible. Alternative formats can preserve wine in perfect condition for longer than necessary to reach a consumer’s taste buds, according to studies at the Université de Bordeaux.

In France, mid-priced winemakers are beginning to embrace the wine-in-a-bag and juice box formats, comprising up to a third of the volume sold last year, according to industry data. High-end restaurants buy kegs of wine to save money and reduce waste.

While pulling a cork seems integral to the joy of wine, I recognize I need to change with the times as I’ve asked others.

Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

Chris Tomlinson has written commentary on business, energy and economics for the Houston Chronicle since 2014. He's the author of two New York Times Bestsellers, "Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth" and "Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black." Before joining the Chronicle, he spent 20 years with The Associated Press reporting on politics, economics, conflicts and natural disasters from more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

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