The Central Valley Of Chile Is A Charming Key Wine
The Chilean Central Valley, which should not be mistaken for the Central Valley of California, is a South American area that includes some of the countrys largest regions, from the Maipo Valley in the north, to Maule Valley in the South. The California Central Valley, however, is a stretched-out region in North America, which includes important regions of Sierra Foothills AVA and Lodi AVA.
The Central Valley is the most important, volume-producing region of Chile. Because of its size, there are several climates and soil-types that can be found in the Central Valley, which allows for a vast variety of grapes to thrive here.
Generally, the Central Valleys climate is relatively cool with dry summers and mild winters. This creates the ideal circumstances to grow just about anything which is why the Central Valley is the major producing area of Chile. Although the region often experiences droughts, floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the vines are capable of overcoming it all.
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.
Buy Wines Online At Getwinescom
- https://www.getwines.com/main.asp?request=PRODUCERPAGE& sel_producers=PETER%20VELLA%20VINEYARDS
- Buy wines Online at GetWines.com â Peter Vella Vineyards Peter Vella combines award-winning flavor and an innovative box design to craft quality wines that maintain a lasting freshness. Winemaker Peter Vella pours 40 years of winemaking expertise into his smooth, easy to enjoy wines
You May Like: Can You Ship Wine Across State Lines
The Best Boxed Wines Weve Tasted
We skipped a natural white and a couple of moscatos but fell in love with a Beaujolais
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.
Best Overall Boxed Wine: Wineberry Chateau du Chatelard Beaujolais 2018
Price: From $39.99 for 3 litersSize: 3-liter bag-in-boxWhere to buy: Astor Wines & Spirits or Drizly, or check availability
The People Pleaser: Black Box Pinot Noir 2019
Price: From $19.09 for 3 litersWhere to buy: Drizly, FreshDirect, or Total Wine, or check availability
Best White Wine: Black Box Sauvignon Blanc
Where To Buy Good Boxed Wine
The best overall boxed wine is Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel. The Old Vine Zinfandel from Bota Box is the best of all boxed wines because of its enchanting flavor. The wine is made from grapes grown in California, and it is very pleasing to the palate. It proves boxed wine is a force to be reckoned with.
Read Also: How Many 1oz Shots In 750 Ml
You May Like: Best Wine For Lasagna
Where Does Frontera Wine Come From
The wine was discovered at the supermarket last year by Garcia and Gilcrease, who drink it exclusively with their meals, often pairing it with spicy Mexican dishes. In Zacatecas, Mexico, Garcia, who is from Chile, can discern distinct Latin American flavors from the wine made at Concha y Toro vineyards.
Does The Lcbo Sell Boxed Wine
The LCBO sells more boxed wines than any other retailer, but which ones are worth the money?? You can use bag-in-box wine for camping and cottaging. In addition, its a smart choice during the COVID pandemic as well. Wine in a big box reduces shopping trips, saves space at home, and is an economical way to consume wine.
Read Also: Stella Rosa Wine Sweetness Scale
How To Shop For Boxed Wine
Even if youre unable to find one of our recommended picks in your area, you can still find a perfectly delicious boxed wine in your local wine shop: Smaller winemakers that sell only within a particular region can offer spectacular wines that arent available nationally.
Find the right shop. Find a retailer that focuses on wine, Leon says. It helps with the quality of whats being offered. Small shops that focus on beverages, specificallyrather than, say, a grocery store or a big-box storeare going to pay more careful attention to what they stock, he says, so youre more likely to be able to trust whatever you pull from the shelf.
Pay attention to what the box says, too. Leon says that the more specific the information, the better the wine youre probably getting. If the label states where the wine is coming from, and exactly what grapes are in the wine, you are already way ahead of the game, he says. For example, on the Wineberry Beaujolais, you can find the appellation, or the official region where the grapes are grown the winery that made the wine and where the wine was packaged. These are all indicators that a wine is at least decent, if not better, quality.
Like all CR evaluations of products and services, our Outside the Labs reviews are independent and free from advertising. If youd like to learn more about the criteria for our lab testing, please go to the Research & Testing page on our website.
Angela Lashbrook
How This $3 Bottle Of Wine Came To Be So Beloved
On a recent trip to a Supermarket Fiesta in Houston, Rosa Garcia was lugging twelve bottles of Concha y Toro Frontera wine when a woman stopped her and asked her if that stuff was any good.
Oh no, I just use it for cooking, Garcia said. She was lying. She doesnt want the prices to go up of what has become her and her husband Michael Gilcreases favorite wine, and she suspects this will happen if too many people start drinking it. At Fiesta, you can buy three bottles of Frontera for $9.99. Prices vary slightly around the country, but its typically the cheapest bottle at any given wine shop.
Despite its budget reputation, Frontera has accumulated a devoted following from people around the country who think it tastes greatat least as good as anything youd buy in the $15 range. Since Garcia discovered the wine at the supermarket last year, she and Gilcrease drink exclusively Frontera with their dinners, often pairing it with spicy Mexican dishes. The wine is made in Chile at the Concha y Toro vineyards, and Garcia, who is from Zacatecas, Mexico, can discern uniquely Latin American flavors.
Michael Bishop, another one of Fronteras numerous but well-hidden devotees, first discovered the wine in 1990, when he was working his first restaurant job in Tampa, Florida and their house wine was Fronteras Cab/Merlot blend.
For Garcia and Gilcrease, the discovery of Frontera has shifted their wine-drinking habits.
Don’t Miss: Where Can You Buy Wine Yeast
What Is A Good Boxed Wine
Best White: Frontera Sauvignon Blanc
courtesy of Marketview Liquors
Region: Chile | ABV: 12.5% | Tasting Notes: Lemon peel, Tropical fruit, Green apple
Bright, young, and fresh, this summery Sav Blanc has its zippy roots in Chiles Central Valley, where the grapes have a mineral exuberance. Its a crisp sip with citrusy, snappy appeal, hints of tropical fruit, and a clean finish that makes it a match for all sorts of light picnic foods. This ones a refreshing bargain.
Read Also: Belle Meade Plantation Wine
Frontera After Midnight Red Wine
Chile is a great region for bargain-priced wines and hence I find myself reviewing a lot of wines from Chile. Some of them are great and some of them are meh! But what do you expect when youre tasting the cheap stuff. And at $5.99 per bottle, this one is about as cheap as it gets these days.
It comes from Concha Y Toro, the biggest wine company in Chile. Their Frontera brand is one of the lowest cost brands they produce.
The concept behind the name of this wine, After Midnight, is the grapes are harvested after dark when the cool temperatures help preserve the grapes. I certainly like the idea of that, as the thought of grapes baking in the sun between harvest and fermentation isnt so appealing.
But then Ive never harvested grapes for winemaking myself, so what do I know about harvesting grapes? I do, however, have plenty of experience at tasting wines and thats what I shall do.
I can tell you from experience that palates change over time. And I have noticed over the years of tasting and talking to others about wine that younger wine consumers in their 20s tend to be more drawn to sweeter wines like this one. If you like sweeter reds, you may enjoy this one. Personally, this one is not for me.
Wine: Frontera, After Midnight
White Boxed Wine Picks
There are a lot of reasons to love Fielding Long Weekend Wine Co. Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio VQA, starting with the fact that its one of very few made at an independent, family-owned winery that uses 100 percent Ontario grapes. Also, its just plain delicious, with a crisp, clean and juicy tasteeverything we want to drink with our corn chowder and salad.
Everyone whos ever tried a bottle of Robertson Winery Chenin Blanc knows that, dollar per ounce, this South African white is a great buy. If youre lucky enough to live in Quebec, where its sold in a three-litre box, the savings are even more impressive on this dry, balanced, bright, high-acid white thats born to be enjoyed with soft cheese and fatty fish.
Californias Bota Box is a bit of a game-changer, since its widely available across Canada, offers quite a few options, varietal-wise, and, well, weve never tried one we didnt like. Case in point: Bota Box Pinot Grigio, a lively, perfectly dry wine with citrus and stone fruit notes.
Recommended Reading: Ideal Wine Fridge Temperature
Is Boxed Wine Worth It
The appearance of boxed wine can be just as important as the quality of the wine that comes out of a bottle, and there are many factors to consider before determining the value of a wine. There is a possibility that both boxed and bottled wine are of poor quality or of excellent quality. As you determine the value of a wine, keep that in mind.
Recommended Reading: Tj Swan Drink
What Makes Chilean Wine So Affordable
Chilean wine is considered cheap for several reasons.
When comparing South American wine to more traditional European or new world wines, their prices are significantly lower than other countries, despite the astounding quality.
There are three major influences that affect the price and allow Chilean wine to be sold for so much less
- The cost of labor especially in the vineyards are significantly less than Europe or America. In fact, the labor costs are 1/3 or of countries like France and Germany. This is, unfortunately, largely to do with illegal labor practises too.
- The cost of land and their standard of living is significantly lower than the USA and most European countries.
- Chile has to be able to compete with larger producers in the USA and Europe, so they will cut their prices in order to compete with the bigger names.
Read Also: Can You Ship Wine To Illinois
Best Ros: Le Vieille Ferme
Courtesy of Amazon
Region: France | ABV: 12.5% | Tasting Notes: Floral, Citrus, Peach
Brown calls this wine produced by the Southern Rhônes famed Perrin family one of the best wine values of the wine world.
A blend of syrah, grenache, and cinsault, its a consistent gem thats 100 percent crushable, she says, with a red-fruit palate and touches of citrus, peach flesh, and white flowers.
Itâs a perfect match poolside with friends, for those regular Tuesday nights with leftover Chinese food, or while simply Netflix and chilling, folding laundry. Nadine Brown, wine consultant and former wine director of Charlie Palmer Steak in DC
Wine Shops And Supermarkets: Sad Situation
Lets take my own country Belgium as an example. I suppose most of the sherry is purchased in supermarkets. The bigger supermarkets around here offer five to ten different types of sherry, but only the bigger brands like Tio Pepe or Osborne, and only the cheaper expressions. While these are fine table wines, Im more interested in the artisan products which are mostly sold through specialized wine retailers. The smaller bodegas all have one importer. Usually the importer is also a retailer so you can buy the wines directly from them. They will also distribute the wines to restaurants, bars and sometimes also to a handful of smaller, local shops.
Of course shops will argue this is down to the low popularity of sherry, but this is a chicken-or-egg problem. Of course artisan sherry wont gain popularity if you have to drive two hours to find a bottle. In my opinion the exclusivity concept is outdated and its clearly not helping to get a wider acceptance and availability of sherry. Bodegas: find more distributors with a strong online presence to get your products out there! And maybe look beyond the brick-and-mortar shops altogether
Also Check: Where Can I Buy Wine Yeast
Which Months Is The Wine Season In Chile
The Chilean wine season falls between March and May.
These are the best months to visit the region, as the Central Valley and all of its beauty is truly exhibited. It is also when the major wine events, festivals and celebrations take place all across the valley.
These regions of Chile offer some truly spectacular travel adventures, traditional cuisine options and some truly welcoming residents.
The 12 Best Boxed Wines
Boxed wine gets a bad rap. Most often packaged in a rubber bladder thats neatly packed into a user-friendly cardboard box, the wine inside is often underestimated with the assumption that its all mass-produced, low-quality juice.
And sometimes, that is the case. Many of the big boxed wine brands on the market are sipped with quantity over quality in mind rarely savored like fine wine. But this doesnt mean all delicious vino comes in a bottle. The boxed category has recently experienced a resurgence, with more and more small and high-end brands releasing boxed wines that are delicious, balanced, and convenient all without breaking the bank.
Plus, boxed wine offers another enticing advantage: Its environmentally friendly. Not only does it have a lower production cost its also much more sustainable than its glass sibling. Glass is difficult to source, environmentally costly to create, and difficult to recycle. Plus, its weight makes transporting glass bottles emit significantly more carbon. Compare this to the lightweight, recyclable, and sometimes compostable bag-in-box treasures below, and one thing is clear as a slapped bag: Boxed wine is here to stay.
To help you discover the best of the boxed, VinePair tasted dozens of boxed wines and narrowed them down to 12 of our favorites ranked below. These are the best boxed wines available on the market today.
Read Also: Malibu Zoo Winery
Recommended Reading: Is Woodbridge Wine Vegan
What Is The Best Boxed Wine In Canada
Donât Miss: Stella Rosa Moscato Rose Alcohol Percent
Wineberry Chteau Tassin Bordeaux Blanc 2020
This Bordeaux Blanc, composed of 85 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 15 percent , smells like wet rocks and a ripe, juicy pear drizzled with honey. It has pronounced minerality, with a clean, bright palate, and a puckering acidity thats filled out by melony fruit. All in all, this is an easy-drinking, crowd-pleasing white wine that would be just as at home alongside light, seafood pastas as it would with sushi.
Rating: 89
Recommended Reading: Total Wine Albany Ny
Is Boxed Wine Good Quality
The appearance of boxed wine can be just as important as the quality of the wine that comes out of a bottle, and there are many factors to consider before determining the value of a wine. There is a possibility that both boxed and bottled wine are of poor quality or of excellent quality. As you determine the value of a wine, keep that in mind.
