Add Boxed Wine to Your Holiday List

The new generation of high-quality 3-liter boxed wines means that you can always be ready for an impromptu holiday celebration. Don’t mistake them for the 5-liter boxes of the past containing cheap, lower-quality wines. Referred to as “wine casks,” these premium, 3-liter boxes deliver quantity (one 3-liter box is the equivalent of four 750-milliliter bottles), great value (they’re approximately 40 percent less expensive than the average table wine), and great taste (vintners around the world are producing excellent varietals).

Protected by a triple-layer airtight plastic bag inside the box, which contracts as the contents are emptied over time, the wine is protected from oxygen and able to last at least four to six weeks after opening. Compare that to a bottle, which has about one to two days before descending down the path towards vinegar. Here is a range of products that is sure to please.

Wine in the Box

Black Box, an award-winning line of nine wines (starting at $21.99). Grapes are sourced from the world’s top winegrowing regions, including Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Italy and New Zealand.

Bota Box, produced by Delicato Family Vineyard, offers six award-winning varieties—Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Old Vine Zinfandel ($24 each). Its Cabernet Sauvignon scored 87 Points by Wine Spectator recently.

Target developed its own proprietary brand, The Wine Cube, in 2003. The Cube has been so successful that the chain has expanded with a new 3-liter cube ($17.99) in seven varieties, a 1.5-liter Cube ($11.99) available in two varieties, and a 4-Pack ($9.99) in four varieties.

Boho Vineyards, a division of The Wine Group, uses exactly the same artisan hand-crafted winemaking techniques (night harvesting, small oak barrel aging, individual lot winemaking) for its cask wines that it does for its bottles. Available in Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (starting at $24 per box). Also part of The Wine Group, Killer Juice (about $20 a box) and Pinot Evil (about $15 a box) are serving up good wine with fun packaging.

From the Tank by Estezargues offers a Côtes du Rhône brand with a white and a red  ($40 each), and is made of the exact same quality wine as you’ll find in its bottles that are shipped to the U.S. from its vineyard in Vignerons d'Estézargues, France. –Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

3 comments

Christina Casano I was pretty skeptical about boxed wine, but I got the Bota Box Cabernet Sauvignon and was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Great size (and price) for a party. Plus what we didn't drink at the party tasted just as good for weeks.

cranejockey To purchase a lovely, rustic wooden barrel made to dispence the plastic bag of boxed wine Email me @ capecodbarrelworks@yahoo.com

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