AGRAPE

JULY 2016

#WINEINACAN Jim Doehring launches a new wine company targeting Millennials and beyond.

Necessity, as the saying goes, is quite often the mother of invention. For Oak Brook resident Jim Doehring, it all started when he and his wife took a spur-ofthe-minute trip to New Buffalo, Mich., in the spring of 2015.

“It was a weird, 80-degree day, so we decided to jump in the car and take a road trip,” Doehring says.

The couple, both wine connoisseurs, brought a special bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to share, and headed straight for the beach for a romantic picnic lunch. What they forgot to bring, however, was a corkscrew. From that frustrating experience, the idea for Backpack Wines—upscale wine in an eightounce can—was born.

It was a “lightbulb moment,” says Doehring, who has worked in the wine hospitality business his entire life. He spent the rest of the summer working on a marketing plan, and lined up two partners: Kurt Stoelting of Hinsdale and Pete Henseler of Wheaton. Doehring also reached out to a wine-maker he had met years ago in Washington state.

“He can custom-blend,” he says.

Doehring and the wine-maker settled on two wines to start.

He says “Snappy White,” a Reisling-based wine with a touch of green apple and Asian pear, “has a touch of sweetness, mid-palate weight and finishes with a refreshing acidity. It’s a nice cocktail hour wine.”

The other, “Cheeky Rosé,” is a drier wine with the touch of strawberry and rose petal, Doehring says.

“It’s a nice, clean, crisp blush wine that’s just great with food cooked on the open grill,” he says. “It has a big backbone of acid, so it doesn’t have to be confined to a summertime treat.”

That said, summer looks to be a profitable season for the new wine label, which comes in a pack of four eco-friendly aluminum recyclable cans.

“Obviously, this wine is great for a picnic or a cookout—no glass bottle to break, no cork to open—but we’re also seeing a lot of great opportunities in sports arenas, outdoor festivals and concerts and boating venues,” Doehring says. “We’re also seeing a lot of interest from casual restaurants, local neighborhood joints, and even hotels, who want to put it in their mini bars. At eight ounces, it’s a heavy pour.”

According to Doehring, the quality of his wine simply doesn’t compare to what you get in a mini bottle of wine.

“Most of the wine put in mini bottles just aren’t good wines,” he says, noting boxed wine carries the same reputation, and doesn’t chill as nicely either.

Eventually, Doehring plans to add a red blend and perhaps a sangria to his offerings.

“Right now, we’re focusing on just two wines, but down the line, I would like to do something a little heavier, with a darker flavor profile,” he says.

While Backpack Wine caters to Millennials— or what Doehring calls the “grab-and-go generation”—, he thinks the appeal will be much wider, and is hoping to make it available at such places as Whole Foods, Standard Market, Mariano’s, Hinsdale Wine Shop, Village Cellar, Binny’s and SavWay.

That might seem like a tall order for a new company, but Doehring has clearly uncorked something unique. n Visit www.backpack.wine for more information.