We Had No Idea 7-Eleven Has Its Own Brand Of Canned Wine

It's not new, but if you don't frequent the wine shelf at 7-Eleven, you might have missed it too; the gas station-slash-convenience store chain famous for its icy Slurpees has a line of canned wine. Announced in December 2018, the Roamer brand, brought to you by 7-Eleven, featured a Syrah-based fruit-driven rosé and a tropical, citrusy, lightly oaked Chardonnay. In subsequent years, it has released a sparkling wine and the Reisling Radler wine cooler made with hops, grapefruit, and a little malt. All Roamer canned wines are made with California-grown grapes. At 375 mLs, each can is one-half of a traditional wine bottle — the size of one standard beer can.

The Roamer brand is meant to appeal to on-the-go consumers, with a tagline that reads "Wine for the adventuring crowd." The can art features pine trees or palm trees and a logo that looks like it should say, "The mountains are calling." The allure of canned wine is that it can easily be tossed into a cooler or a backpack for a hike or, as 7-Eleven senior director of private brands Tim Cogil said in the 2018 press release, a concert, picnic, or beach day, rather than lugging along breakable glass bottles, glassware, and a corkscrew.

Roamer joins at least four other brands made exclusively for 7-Eleven convenience stores. Its first venture into private-brand wine was Yosemite Road. The bottles hit shelves in 2009 in the U.S. and Japan with a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Now, Yosemite Road's lineup includes Moscato, pink Moscato, and Pinot Grigio. Trojan Horse came on the scene in June 2018 with a Chardonnay and a Pinot Grigio; they were the first 7-Eleven wines to list the vintage date and California appellation. Trojan Horse was a venture into higher-quality convenience store wine. Voyager Point landed at the same time, expanding the offerings with a Cabernet Sauvignon and red blend from California and a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. At $3 more than Trojan, they are in the "premium" tier of convenience store wine.

Roamer was 7-Eleven's first wine format that departed from the standard bottle. A contemporary 2018 industry study (via CNBC) showed that cans outperformed every other alternative packaging option. Between 2017 and 2018, canned wine sales grew by 43% and totaled $45 million in sales. The newest addition to the 7-Eleven wine family, circa 2021, is Plot + Point, which features a Chardonnay and a Pinot Grigio in a Tetra Pak container with a screwcap — also for wine drinkers on the go, but in slightly larger 500 mL volumes.

The Roamer rosé is a dry wine made of Syrah grapes, fermented cold in stainless steel, featuring notes of strawberry and raspberry. Syrah-based rosés pair well with tuna nicoise salad, lemon shrimp pasta, paella, and pulled pork sandwiches. Though, while you're browsing the 7-Eleven shelves, grab a chicken Caesar pasta salad, hot honey boneless wings, Skinny Pop popcorn, and a strawberry cup. The Chardonnay is fermented in neutral oak barrels, giving it a round mouthfeel without overwhelming the grape's tropical and citrus flavors with oakiness. It pairs well with shellfish, white meats, cream sauces, crab cakes, mushrooms, and starchy veggies like corn or squash. At 7-Eleven, pair either with a chicken salad sandwich, hot chicken sandwich, or chicken strips, breakfast pizza, a fruit blend cup with pineapple, a blueberry muffin, and sweet potato Terra chips. If you're in Hawaii, you can pair it with 7-Eleven sushi.

The sparkling wine is fruity and crisp. Bubbly wines are excellent palate cleansers for intense, spicy foods like 7-Eleven's Korean BBQ taquitos, pepperoni pasta salad, chili lime 7-Select Loco Rollers, or even Flamin' Hot Doritos. The Reisling Radler, with a little extra sweetness, also cuts through spicy foods; pair it with mini tacos and habanero lime Loco Rollers.