A wireless identification system and method used for identifying medical vials having a metallic crimp includes an RFID tag having a first antenna element located at the crimp so as to be capacitively coupled to the crimp to increase the effective surface area of the RFID antenna, and a second antenna element mounted to the side of the vial between the ends of the labeling mounted on the vial so as to not mask any visually readable information of the labeling. Dielectric adhesive is used in one embodiment to couple the antenna element to the crimp. The invention is particularly useful for small vials. A manufacturing method in which the wireless tag is an integral part of the container is disclosed.