(WP) - In summer 2016, wine lovers have a smart new slogan: Yes, we can.

Which is to say that wine in a can, an idea that has been attempted in the States since at least the 1980s, when soda companies tried their hand in the wine game, is back. In the past, the idea never achieved escape velocity, probably because cans represent everything that wine in that era — with its raised pinkies and gauzy “Morning in America”-esque Gallo ads — wasn’t supposed to be.

This time, it might be different, for one big reason: rosé, which has deflated some of the snobbery and generally made wine more user-friendly. Canned rosé is one of those perfect summer ideas, and a handful of choices have appeared in various markets across the country. In the Washington area, the easiest to find is the Underwood pinot noir rosé from Oregon’s Union Wine, which has been turning out affordable pinot-based wines for years. Union also has a canned red pinot noir — perhaps a less-smart idea, because cheaper versions of that grape can sometimes evoke a sardine-tin flavor — plus a pinot gris and a sparkling wine. The rosé is the smart call.

The roster is growing. Crucially, cans are coming not from Coca-Cola (which divested itself of wine in the early 1980s) or large wine companies such as Constellation Brands, although the very large Wine Group, based in Livermore, Calif., which sells brands such as Cupcake, offers its FlipFlop wines in cans. Put your money on big guys canning dry rosé before long.

Today’s wine-can era was arguably pioneered by the larger Francis Ford Coppola Winery (nee Niebaum-Coppola), which in 2004 released its popular Sofia sparkling blanc de blancs, named for the director’s daughter, in 187-milliliter cans. Sofia might have been ahead of its time; this being before the “brosé” era, it clearly targeted female customers who may not have loved the slender fuschia-colored package. But it continues to be featured on supermarket shelves.

For the moment, most efforts are from small, high-quality wineries, which makes a difference when your target audience is millennial drinkers who have zero memory of 30-year-old trends and don’t love large corporations. In Paso Robles, Calif., Field Recordings winery owner Andrew Jones launched Alloy Wine Works to focus on cans; his Fiction rosé made a splash last summer. So did the Infinite Monkey Theorem, a Denver winery that markets cans in Colorado.