NAPA VALLEY, Calif. - Keg beer has new competition from an unusual source: wineries, which are starting to ship wine in kegs, the Associated Press reports. "I got the idea from my trip to Italy," said Chris Hall, general manager and co-owner of the Long Meadow Ranch, a winery in Napa Valley, Calif. Hall ships his organic wines in 19-liter, stainless steel kegs.

"In Italy, it is not uncommon to have good wine on draft in a casual restaurant. It's how they pour it into a carafe. And the real surprise to me was how good the wine was. There wasn't really any pretense about it. It was good, honest wine," said Hall.

Holding between the volume of 26 and 40 bottles of wine, kegs dispense the wine with a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to avoid adding fizz to the wine. Other vintners use barrels with a plastic bladder, similar to wine boxes, that hold up to w0 liters of wine.

Two pluses of using kegs or barrels are that they are recyclable and lighter, which decreases shipping costs. The bigger formats also offer protection from oxidation. "And because it's completely recyclable and very light weight, it's much greener technology," says Linda Lindsay, founder of the Great Oregon Wine Company which uses a 30-liter keg.