Box wine
 

I bought a wine Friday night that came in a large juicebox type container: Bandit from 3 thieves. I'm not sure why - maybe my spirit of adventure was acting up. But I must say it was a decent wine; a pinot grigio, suficiently dry and clean tasting. It came from Wal*Mart and the price was under $8 for the liter.

I mentioned it this afternoon to my local wine merchant, while I was picking up a couple more expensive wines. He was familiar with it and admitted he used to sell it himself once upon a time.

I know we are being told to accept quality wines with screw tops. Is this the next step. Mrs BamaVol liked the wine, but insists that it be decanted and served in a carafe. :rolleyes:

The US is greatly behind the rest of the world for wine packaging. Here a "better" wine has to have a cork, and few wineries dare to go against this. Elsewhere lots of wine is package in plastic (either box or bottle) and even in paper bottles (like orange juice), so quite a bit past a screw top. I've seen wines costing USD 20 per liter packaged like this, and it works well. But it would never sell in the US.

There are some good box wines - my last purchase was a fantastic Premier Cru White Burgundy for summertime drinking. Great because 3 Liters of wine could be dispensed over time without oxidizing - one of the great benefits of Box Wine.

Australia has been putting some absolutely brilliant wines into boxes (casks) for decades now - the collapsible lining ensures no oxidising as mentioned above. One of my favourites was a Morris of Rutherglen red.

This guy likes to review cheap wines particularly those in boxes http://www.boxwines.org/

There are still very few options for better quality wine in a box that are available in the US. Possibilities to look for include Black Box and Free Range (the latter is all sourced in France). Can't speak for them yet, but they're on our to-try list (assuming the state-run stores carry them). We bought a case of Two-Buck Chuck in Ohio yesterday, though, so we won't need to try for a bit. (We had a bottle we liked and it seems to be the same batch.)

The problem with Bandit isn't the wine so much (apparently good for its price range) but that the tetra brick packaging's only benefit over a bottle is that it's cheaper. The bag-in-box packaging has the added benefit of preventing air from getting in, which allows you to keep it over weeks (which is good, since most packages are 4 bottles' worth).

Banrock Station from Australia has terrific wines in an "apple juice" 1L box. Fantastic!

I quite like box wines but I find them an awful bugger to store in my wine rack !

Read this thread today - stopped by the liquor store tonight - now three boxes are in my fridge.....thanks FT. :D

My mom always drank Franzia and the like (the low-end boxed wines, the ones on which the general disdain is founded -- and they deserve it!), so I never thought I'd go that route, but the quality available has gone way up in the past few years. I also like keeping a box of dry white and generic red (Target's boxed line works well for this) in the fridge for cooking purposes.

Just be careful that you don't get fooled. That may be a Wal*Mart red in a Target box! They're entirely different. Make sure you report it here if it happens to you. :D

Ain't that the truth.

That's right -- Tuesday was a good year! :D

But we're competitive in the "cute labels" department.

I always laugh at box wine... Mr. Kipper's boss (or whatever) in the Marine Corps said he was a big wine person, but only ever drank box wine, and would talk about how quickly he would get drunk, but how he wouldn't have a hangover the next day with it.

No offense to anyone who drinks it, but box wine always makes me laugh. :)

Agreed. Borlotti (?) Merlot is better than most bottles 2 or 3 times the price, and has topped many lists.

OT: I loved their 2004 vintage and raved about it to everyone. The Shiraz was even voted one of best values in the world at less than $4 a bottle in some places. But when I bought several bottles of their 2005 vintage it tasted like...well...cheap wine.

Target has those 4-pack wine cubes...not the best vino, but they fit in a cupholder. :o

we LOVE those target 'juice box' boxed wines...not as great wine, mind you, but as great kitsch, groovy packaging and perfectly fine vino. there's a preference in my house for the pinot grigio and the cab-shiraz. (the merlot...not so much.) my husband keeps threatening to sneak 'em into the movies to go with his popcorn, and it's great for a picnic--no worries about breakage and it's the perfect size. it's only a pity they don't come with straws. ;)

i think the 'juice box' is a brilliant idea, but i'm just waiting for the lawyers to get hold of it. seriously, i'm expecting some weird lawsuit about kids drinking mommy's stuff, so i'm stocking up. :p

Or the fact they aren't very recognizable (mix in well with other beverage packaging).

exactly. which is, of course, part of why we like them. :D

Hard to imagine Cole Porter finding inspiration over a chilled box of Sancerre.

Tried the Bandit cabernet last night and was disappointed after such an impressive pinot grigio.

Mrs BamaVol and I did get a chuckle out of the 2002 vintage stamped on the juicebox. Certainly the oldest juice box contents we've ever consumed.

De Bortoli makes wine in several different ranges. Some of it is
pretty good. Today for lunch I had a box Merlot from Domaine
Grollet near Angouleme, and it was great with bacon butties.

Just tried the 2005 Bandit pinot grigio and it was awful; the worst wine I've had in years. Lots of cheaper wines are a lot better than that one. I do like the packaging, but their wine is surprisingly poor.

In the US, Kendall-Jackson does a nice box.

More 411 on the name of the white Burgundy, please? Many thanks!

Sorry--question already posed in previous post.

Yesterday someone plopped a box of Alamaden boxed white wine on the counter at a parish luncheon. Hideous is about the best description I can offer...especially at room temperature.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

The easiest way to make poor wine taste better is to chill it. Cold eliminates the more volatile components of the smell, which tend to be the worse features of a wine. It even works for red wine (bad red wine straight from the fridge can be enjoyable sometimes). Works particularly well in Florida.

Almaden is an interesting case study of how brands evolve. Almaden was one of the first box wines in the US (20 years ago? I think it is circa 1985); they had "jug" wines in gallon bottles before then. Used to be quite good for the price. Over time the taste has gotten a lot sweeter and more fruity -- and worse. Seems like a business decision, or response to perceived market demand. They definitely changed the style to be more "soft drink" inspired (taste like Sprite).

Well, keep in mind I was using the term impressive more to describe value (@ $6 a liter) than taste, but I cannot say it was the worst I've tasted all month, let alone years. To each his own. Anyone else dare to try it?

I can't remember what year the Banrock I had. I have tasted several different ones from the box and I was pleasantly suprised!

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.

[QUOTE=world_citizen] I wonder why, people have a hard time going with the boxed option. QUOTE]


Because some things are just not done.

You must be quite the wine drinker-huh?

Or a James Bond fan. Possibly both. Cheers!

Grandma, Grandma? Is that you? They told me you were... :eek:

On a more serious note, anyone from Ontario know of any recommendable 'alternative packaging' wines available throught the LCBO?

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.

Is this stuff sourced from Canadian vineyards or is it one of the "made in Canada" wines where the grapes can (and often do) come from all over the world? Nothing wrong with that at th equivalent of C$2.25/bottle.

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.