Stackable, Individual Wine?

We've spoken at length, both in class and on this blog, about the decreasing consumption of beer in the USA and the increasing consumption of wine and spirits. In many cases, replacing beer with wine is simple - grocery stores have all three, most restaurants that serve beer also serve wine, in most modern cities wine bars are as accessible as beer bars, etc.

One arena in which beer arguably still has a leg up is in specialty occasions where alcohol needs to be transported. For example, concerts, sporting games, beach days, picnics, etc. Occasions when often you need just a single serving of a drink and you need those servings to be easily sharable (e.g. how many times have we been out with friends and they've said, "I'm going to grab a beer, who wants one?").

On these occasions, beer is just easier - easier to transport, easier to get in mass quantities, easier to share. Also, while you feel good drinking beer out of a can, there is something about drinking wine out of a solo cup that just isn't quite the same. 

Enter stackable wine. 

Take Stack Wines (http://drinkstack.com/) whose tagline reads, "Now you can have your wine and Take It With You." Stacks are composed of 4 individual, non breakable wine glasses that are individually sealed. You can either buy and share the whole stack or, presumably, at a venue like a sporting game or concert, buy the individual number of glasses that you need. As with a beer can/cup, the empty glass can be recycled and you're given a new one. 

No bottles & glasses to transport and take care of, no uncorking needed, no clean up. 

Stackable wine seems like a no brainer, but there are a couple barriers I see:

1. Quality of the wine. Its all well and good that these wines are stackable and come in different varieties, but what is the quality? I'd much rather a good beer in a solo cup than a bad wine in a glass - even as someone who has a preference for the latter beverage.

2. Shelf-life. Presumably, you can't "lay down" stackable wine as you can a good bottle. While this is an extreme (e.g. I don't really think the demographic that lays down wine is the same as wants mass wine in a stack), I am concerned about the longevity. Is the wine impacted by being in plastic glasses? By having that plastic be clear and open to sunlight? Can the oxidation levels be controlled as well?

3. Distribution. Will these stacks actually be able to get into the venues where they will likely have the most success? How will customer awareness occur?

While I think there are many hurdles to this product, I'm excited to see where it goes as I believe it could fill a true need in the current market.