Box wine
Mar 19, 2007 | 3:03 pm
#31
Join Date: Oct 2006
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I can't remember what year the Banrock I had. I have tasted several different ones from the box and I was pleasantly suprised!
Mar 20, 2007 | 11:44 am
#32
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 106
I agree, box wine has gotten a bad wrap, but I happen to think it tastes the same as those average priced wines that come in bottles. I wonder why, people have a hard time going with the boxed option. I guess we're all used to the bottle and the satisfying feeling of perfectly unscrewing the cork, its part of the experience of enjoying a nice glass of wine. Opening up a box, isn't as gratifying.
Mar 20, 2007 | 9:34 pm
#38
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Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
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Peller Estates French Cross is quite good, available in 5 or 6 different varietals/blends. The best is their "Dry Red" which is a soft red which is remarkable for a bulk wine (and cheap, something like CAD 12 for 4L, but I only get to the LCBO a couple of times a year). A great example of how price and quality in wine is only loosely coupled, and some cheap wines can be quite good.
Mar 22, 2007 | 12:36 pm
#39
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Peller Estates French Cross is quite good, available in 5 or 6 different varietals/blends. The best is their "Dry Red" which is a soft red which is remarkable for a bulk wine (and cheap, something like CAD 12 for 4L, but I only get to the LCBO a couple of times a year). A great example of how price and quality in wine is only loosely coupled, and some cheap wines can be quite good.
Mar 22, 2007 | 12:44 pm
#40
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Miami
Programs: AA EXP (OW EME), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 454
I used to love Banrock Station Shiraz and Cab in boxes in Hong Kong but here in the US their box wines are just drinkable. Don't know why.
Mar 22, 2007 | 12:55 pm
#41
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Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
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Peller mostly makes high-end wines (>$10/bottle), and does have their own vineyards in Niagara for those. The box wines are labeled "cellared by" which normally allows 70% non-Ontario wines in the blend, but in 2005 there was an emergency allowance of 99% imported wine due to a shortage of grapes in Ontario. So I'm sure the majority of the wine came from the California central valley grape glut. It is a nice soft red, like a beaujolais (zero aging potential).
Mar 22, 2007 | 12:58 pm
#42
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Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
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Different wine (deliberately so). I hate this practice by some of the larger companies, using the same brand name and labeling for a deliberately different tasting product. Part of their global brand strategy. The theory is to cater to local tastes but have a global brand. Just tastes different wherever you go.
Mar 22, 2007 | 1:23 pm
#43
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Different wine (deliberately so). I hate this practice by some of the larger companies, using the same brand name and labeling for a deliberately different tasting product. Part of their global brand strategy. The theory is to cater to local tastes but have a global brand. Just tastes different wherever you go.
Mar 22, 2007 | 1:25 pm
#44
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Mar 22, 2007 | 1:28 pm
#45
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Oh, I am quite aware of Peller (which also makes Okanagan wines, or wine with grapes from the Okanagan). I was curious if they make boxed Niagara wines (which isn't really available in B.C.). There is one vineyard in B.C. that sells (or used to sell) Okanagan wines in boxes. They couldn't labelled VQA (vintners quality assurance) as the wines weren't bottled but would be VQA-eligible otherwise.