Le Petite Frog Picpoul De Pinet
You heard it here first: Picpoul is the new Pinot Grigio. Light, simple, and somewhat neutral in flavor, this style is exemplified by Le Petite Frogs refreshing French white wine ideal for poolside sipping on the hottest of days, yet a worthy 5 oclock pour at the end of a work day in winter. What this wine lacks in character, it makes up for in crushability which is another way of saying, its super drinkable and relatively low in alcohol ideal, considering each box contains the equivalent of four standard 750-milliliter wine bottles.
Rating: 86
Myth : Boxed Wine Doesnt Stay Fresh For That Long
Define that long. Boxed wine is vacuum-sealed to prevent oxidation, keeping the wine fresh for up to 6 weeks after opening. Is that long enough?
Oxidation is the sneaky chemical process that turns alcohol into acetaldehyde, a compound that smells like bruised apples. With bottles, even if you open the bottle and wedge the cork back in, the damage is done. You’ve expose the entire bottle to oxygen when you open it that first time.
But with boxed wines, you can pretty much set it and forget it. The wine still oxidizes, but up to 20x slower than bottles. Were pretty sure one or two dinner parties can get the job done before the deadline.
Boxed Wines Industry Insiders Love
If youre like many of us at Wine Enthusiast, you like to take wine wherever you go. While we certainly have our favorite cans and bottles, they can be cumbersome. Thankfully, theres boxed wine. Its much easier to pack, not to mention that there will be more than enough to go around.
So, whether youre heading to a barbecue, camping trip or just a day in the park, weve got you covered. Here are some of our favorite boxed wines.
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A Million And One Advantages Of Boxed Wines
It lasts a long time once opened. Industry professionals have a more accurate term for boxed wine: bag-in-box. Most boxed wines actually come in a plastic pouch with a polyester outer layer. The bag is filled under vacuum, so theres no air in it. This bag shrinks as you pour the wine from the spout, which keeps the wine fresher much longer than wine in a bottle, which of course stays the same size no matter how much wine youve drunk from it.
Most 3-liter boxes will stay good for up to six weeks after theyve been opened, says Chris Leon, owner of the Brooklyn, N.Y., wine shop Leon & Son. A box is the ideal option for someone who wants merely a splash of wine here and there, he says. I even know some wine professionals who will keep a box in the fridge for when they just want a quick glass.
This applies only to bag-in-box wines, from which you pour via a spout, though. Bandit, which makes the pinot grigio that we tried, sells its wine in Tetra Paks, a multilayered, shelf-stable packaging that brings to mind plant milks . Like with a bottle of wine, air replaces wine as the juice is pouredso while Tetra Pak wines are shelf-stable prior to opening, they need to be consumed within a few days of cracking the seal.
This is partly because glass is more expensive, he says. Its also more difficult to ship: Glass is much heavier than plastic and cardboard, and takes up more space than a box, which can be stacked without any space in between parcels.
Best Boxed Wines We’ve Tasted
We skipped a natural white and a couple of moscatos but fell in love with a rosé and a Beaujolais
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Most wine drinkers are accustomed to buying and serving wine from a bottle, but its not the eternal packaging for the eternal beverage. After all, the Greek god of winemaking, Dionysus, wasnt pouring wine for his maenads from glass bottles but from amphorae, earthenware jugs that held about the equivalent of four bottles of wine. It wasnt until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that people began to ship and store wine in bottles as a common practice.
Boxed wine is newer on the scene, and has struggled to make inroads among serious civilian wine drinkers because of its reputation as a vessel for the cheapest sludge youd pour at a college party.
But as our team of passionate wine drinkers and evaluators discovered, its poor standing isnt entirely fair. You can get bad wine in a box, but you can certainly get bad wine in a bottle, as well. More importantly, the reverse is also true: You can get some great wines in a box.
While this moscato is truly very sweet, its crisp acidity and apricot flavors make it palatable instead of one-note. Wed drink this in small portions, over crushed ice, as a lovely way to round out a meal.
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Best Overall: Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel
Courtesy of Wine.com
Region: California | ABV: 13% | Tasting Notes: Black fruits, Pepper, Blueberries
The boxed wine to reign over all other boxed wines with its enchanting flavor is the Old Vine Zinfandel from Bota Box.
Proudly produced from California grapes, this wine is very agreeable on the palate and proves boxed wine is a force to be reckoned with. Bold with balanced acidity and notes of black cherry, black plum, pepper spice and blueberry. This dark and jammy wine pairs well with barbecue and grilled meats.
Myth : Boxed Wine Is Unsafe To Drink After One Year
While it is advised that you drink your boxed wine within one year of purchase, the wine never actually becomes unsafe to drink. It’s all about maximizing freshness.
The reason most boxed wine brands add a best by recommendation is that a tiny bit of oxygen will eventually seep into the wine through microscopic pores in the plastic bag or through the spout. If you leave a box sitting for a whole year before opening it, you may start noticing nutty, sherry-like flavors or a darker color. Rest assured, there is nothing dangerous or unsafe about the wine, but drink it sooner for peak freshness.
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Best Chardonnay: Black Box Chardonnay
Courtesy of Walmart.com
Region: California | ABV: 14% | Tasting Notes: Oak, Apples, Tropical fruit
Black Box is known for its focus specifically on making great wine that pairs well with a variety of dishes. Their chardonnay delivers citrus aromas with buttery flavors of oak, apple, pear and mango. Bold, semi-sweet with a lasting toasted finish, this chardonnay pairs well with lighter fare like roast chicken and potatoes, or richer whitefish piccata.
Myth : The Best Boxed Wine Is Young Wine
Though boxed wine isnt intended to age for many years in the box , there is no reason that good boxed wine cant be aged prior to packaging. For example, its pretty standard for red wines to be aged at least one year before they are released for sale. So, while you shouldnt be aging your boxed wine in a cellar for decades, bagged wine doesnt have to be super young Beaujolais Nouveau either.
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Founder And Ceo Of Vint Studio
Scout Driscoll is the Founder and CEO of VINT, a company that provides award-winning design and strategic branding for businesses in the wine industry. Through the art of visual storytelling, VINTs all-women team empowers brands of all sizes. Scout is also the Founder and CEO of DesignScout, VINTs parent company. DesignScout has been building authentic and honest brands with nearly 20 years of branding experience.
Best Pinot Grigio: Bandit Pinot Grigio
Courtesy of Minibar
Region: California | ABV: 14% | Tasting Notes: Lemon peel, Apples, Stone fruit
Founded by vintners Joel Gott, Charles Bieler, and Roger Scommegna, Bandit is committed to making delicious wine while preserving the National Parks system.
Not only does Bandit make a tasty pinot grigio, but their packaging makes it easier to have wine-on-the-go, optimal for camping trips and long mountain hikes. And once you reach the summit, youll be hit with creamy aromas of peach, apple, pear and lemon. This is semi-dry with a citrus finish. Bring along an almond-rich trail mix for an out-of-this-world pairing.
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Wine In A Box Is All Grown Upchic Actually Delicious And Sustainable Too
Fine wine is often associated with the celebratory pop of a cork, but, as of late, glass is no longer the only vessel to hold a quality product. In some ways, the dethroning of the glass bottle has already begun, thanks to the current rise of its unlikely opponent: the cardboard box.
Because it is an inert material, glass still prevails as the choice storage for certain types of vinofrom bubbly champagne to wines that are funky or fermented. The boxed model also isnt ideal for a wine that is meant to age, as a box remains shelf stable for up to one year unopened.
Still, a glass bottle of wine is not a long-lasting product upon opening. After a mere three to five days, that once-smooth pinot noir begins to taste more like a pungent vinegar. Boxed wine, on the other hand, stays fresh in its carton for over a monthup to six weeks.
Until now, boxed wine has been associated with college parties and low budgets. Lets face it: A host wouldnt necessarily be thrilled to accept a box of Franzia Chilled Red as a gift, past a certain age. But, unlike the cardboard wine cartons of days passed, the products new wave is being championed forward by smaller companies looking to change the way boxed wine is both perceived and consumed.
By better wine, I mean a wine that is made from responsibly sourced grapesmy wine, for example, is made from organically farmed grapes in Italy.
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Would You Pay $65 For Really Good Boxed Wine This Maker Is Betting On It
Tue., Dec. 21, 2021
Years end means its time for our annual vinous navel-gazing about developments of the past year and crystal-ball prognostications about trends for the next. A professor once assigned an article in which he referred to such retrospective introspection with the Greek word omphaloskepsis, sending all his students lunging for our Oxford English Dictionaries. Ever since, Ive tried to work the word into anything I write, but Ill refrain just this once.
You wont see headlines about this, but of more than 250 wines Ive recommended here in 2021, five have been in 3-liter box formats. This indicates a growing trend of better quality wines in alternative packaging. Three a tempranillo, a garnacha called Independent and a monastrell labeled as Estancia del Silencio were from Spain. There was a barbera from Italy named simply Fred . And last week, I recommended a cabernet sauvignon-païs blend from Chile called GEA by Root 1. All were priced around $25 to $35 per box, equivalent to $6.25 or $8.75 for a standard 750-milliliter bottle.
Is a $65 boxed wine commercially viable? A 3-liter box holds the equivalent of four bottles but costs about the same as two. If youre used to spending $30 for a bottle to enjoy on the weekend, heres the same wine at $15 for you to enjoy all week, Whitman said. And if you typically spend $15 on a bottle, heres a wine worth twice as much you can get for the same price.
Local journalism is essential.
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Best Tetrapak: Bota Box Pinot Grigio
Courtesy of Walmart.com
Region: California | ABV: 13% | Tasting Notes: Lemon-lime, Pineapple, Floral
The hits keep coming from Bota Box with this appetizing, ultra-convenient, eco-friendly packaging, making it easier to take their greatness anywhere. This vibrant medium-bodied white is light and lacy with crisp peach, citrus aromas and flavors of pineapple and white flowers.
This Episodes Featured Guest
Jake Whitman is the Founder and CEO of Really Good Boxed Wine. As the founder of two businesses, he brings more than a decade of management, marketing, and operations experience from both large and mid-sized companies. Prior to Really Good Boxed Wine, Jake worked at SoFi as the Head of Marketing for SoFi Money, one of SoFis fastest-growing products. He also spent time leading SoFi product integration into SoFi Stadium, the new NFL stadium in Los Angeles.
Before SoFi, he worked at Intuit on the corporate marketing team, leading an organization working on strengthening the Intuit brand and driving stronger awareness of its value proposition. Jake also spent several years at Procter & Gamble as a Brand Manager. He led both long-term strategy and day-to-day operations for brands like Gillette and Old Spice, built global product launches, and managed North American business.
We really set out to focus on whats great about boxed wine all of these things that actually make it better than bottled wine in a lot of ways, but just disrupt that area of quality and put significantly higher quality wine into this format.
Finally, Jake is the Author and Publisher of Destination Teach For America, which helps people navigate the rigorous Teach For America admissions process. He was the Founder and Executive Director of Sports Teaching and Reaching Students , a nonprofit that supports low-income student athletes in Philadelphia.
Heres a Glimpse of What Youll Learn
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Bota Box Old Vine Zin
My favorite boxed wine has to be the Bota Box Old Vine Zin. While I enjoy most of the varieties produced by Bota Box, the Old Vine Zin stands out as having that true brambly black fruit and peppery spice that I look for in a Zin. It has turned into my go-to camping wine and is always a crowd pleaser when I throw some ribs in the smoker. Chief Revenue and Education Officer, Commerce
And A Few Disadvantages
Boxed wine has a sell-by date. While bag-in-box wine has an impressive shelf life after it has been opened, its longevity is limited before opening. The big issue with bag-in-box wine is that as a container, it doesnt keep oxygen out as well as glass bottles, says Andrew Waterhouse, PhD, a wine chemist and the director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California, Davis. The plastic is designed to absorb oxygen, but that only lasts for a few months. Basically, after six months, the wine will start oxidizing pretty quickly. Youll know its oxidized if the wine has a distinctly nutty flavor, rather like sherry, he says.
Dont plan to age your boxed wine, Waterhouse advises, and check the sell-by date when you purchase.
Forget about boxed Champagne. Most champagnes and other traditional sparkling wines, like cava and prosecco, require strong packaging that can handle the pressure of carbonization. You cant do sparkling wine in a box, Waterhouse says. No way could those bags hold the pressure. Very lightly fizzy wines, like some moscatos, may work in a bag, he says. Otherwise, this is a category thats best in a bottle or a can.
This doesnt mean you cant get boxed wine in a richer style. Case in point: the malbec we evaluated and enjoyed. Its just less common, so youll have to look harder for the good stuff.
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Sandy Giovese Vino Rosso
With a clever name and package design, it would be easy to discount the wine inside this bag-in-box as merely eye-catching. But dont underestimate this classic Sangiovese. It hits all the notes we look for in an everyday sipper: Its easy-drinking, with good acidity that balances the bitter sweetness of cranberry and cherry fruit flavors. This is the perfect pasta night wine, and can be enjoyed on its own while cooking and entertaining.
Rating: 91
How We Evaluated These Wines
We arent going to lie: This was a fun story to work on. We chose some of the most popular and widely available boxed wines we could find and consulted with wine sellers at Astor Wines & Spirits and Trader Joes in New York City for recommendations for delicious boxed wines that are widely available.
None of our dozen panelists is a sommelier, but neither are the people most of us serve wine to in our homes. We interviewed a wine seller and a wine chemist about the advantages and disadvantages of boxed wines vs. other packaging styles. Then we each hosted wine tastings in our homes with friends and family, with whom we sniffed, swirled, tasted, discussed, and documented tasting notes and general observations about each of the 11 wines we purchased.
We judged this wine by several criteria. First, we noted its aroma. How rich and fragrant was the wine before tasting? What odors did we detect? Then we took a sip and assessed how it tasted, writing down the flavors we noticed, as well as its balance, its complexity, its brightness, and its depth. Then we considered its finishwhether the wine vanished from our palates as soon as we swallowed or it lingered like a welcome guest . We also compared it with the characteristic flavors commonly used to describe the varietal, in case it diverged from the typical pinot, cab, and so on. Finally, we asked ourselves if we would buy it, and for what occasion.
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