(Forbes) - According to Robbert-Jan Knoppers, Communications Public Affairs & Sustainable Development at the Dutch-based Lightweight Containers BV, the future for dispensing wine on-premise (in restaurants and bars) includes the keg. His company has invested in the Holy Grail U.S. wine market with a new keg production facility in Joliet, Illinois that operates under the custodial care of the eco-packaging innovator, Logoplaste.

Kegs of course are not new. Many European citizens carried empty vessels into a wine shop for a fill up from a small barrel (a keg). In the U.S., before Prohibition wine was often delivered in kegs to restaurants and bars, and also to retailers. Retailers would draw off wine into bottles for customers to take off-premise. As far as I know, in the “old days” there was no technical means of preventing wine in that keg from spoiling.

Repeal in 1933 gave the U.S. restrictive laws throughout the states. The keg for off-premise sales was one of the casualties. The Keg remained on-premise, but was relegated to housing lower end wines served in a carafe or by the glass. The good stuff was served in bottles—until the introduction of the Cruvinet, a device that prevented oxidation by pumping nitrogen into the bottle as wine was drawn off; it allowed safe on-premise pours of premium wine by the glass.