Is It Wine?

There's apparently still a battle going on between the Washington State Liquor Control Board and Washington's wine industry over Franzia's labeling. An article on Seattlest on May 16 quotes Syd Abrams, former lobbyist for the California Wine Institute, now a partner in a large Washington vineyard: "It's not wine. It's not right."

Looking out for his private interests now, Abrams finds it curious that Washington State's notoriously slack Liquor Board was letting one particular California producer get away with the enological equivalent of murder. Boxed "wine" from Franzia, specifically. Turns out, it's not even wine...an affront to legitimate producers, and a violation of the Liquor Board's own injunction against labeling that misleads consumers.

The phrase in question is "Table Wine With Natural Flavorings." In fact, says Abrams, the contents of the Franzia box should be called "Flavored Wine Product," which would require Franzia to list the ingredients (including whatever distilled products are used to provide the alcohol content; Abrams doubts that it's actually wine) and taxed as such. Franzia does provide a nutrition chart that skirts the question.

Seattlest: It's Not Wine

Actually, the "wines" in question represent one third of Franzia's lineup. Five of their fifteen boxed wines are the highly questionable "table wines with natural flavors." These are the five wines offered in the "House Wine Favorites" group.

Another five of Franzia's wines are the "Old World Classics." These are "American wines" and laws state that this description allows them to contain up to 25% imported product. Wine industry sources state the import is usually bulk wine from Australia. These wines are not labeled "table wine with natural flavors," and they are apparently unadulterated wine.

The last five wines are the "Vintner Select" group. These are labled "California" wines. To comply with California law, any wine labled "California wine" must contain California wine, and ONLY California wine. No "natural flavors," no Australian bulk wine. To be sure, there is clearly a lot of blending going on to produce a consistently inoffensive product, but again, it is all unadulterated wine.

Personally, I find Franzia's "House Wine Favorites" to be quite undrinkable. Kool-Aid with alcohol. A pounding headache in a box. I would run away screaming if someone offered me a glass of Franzia "Chillable Red."

Related Tags: box, boxed, wine, Franzia

Beverage World Looks at Image of Box Wines

Yesterday on Beverage World, a look at the changing image of boxed wine.

Image of Box Wines is Improving

May 11, 2007

. . .

With better wine varieties now available in boxes, wineries are attempting to give the category a new identity far from the rowdy boating trips and fraternity parties that gave boxed vino its cheap, low-quality image.

The effort seems to be slowly paying off.

Box wine is now the fastest growing wine category.

. . .

Beverage World

Take a look at the article on Beverage World to read the views of a number of individuals in the wine industry, including: Jeff Jenkins, wine manager of Total Wine & More in Chestrfield Co, VA; Terry Creaturo, wine coordinater for Kroger's mid-Atlantic region; Matt Reilly, Morningstar analyst; Ryan Sproule, Black Box Wines founder; Steph Waller, composer-turned-writer; and Leslie Jospeh, VP of Consumer Research, Constellation Brands.

Related Tags: box, boxed, bag-in-box, cask, wine

Wine Enthusiast Magazine Looks at Alternative Packaging

There's a great article about alternative wine packaging in this month's Wine Enthusiast. In Beyond The Bottle, Paul Gregutt looks at bag-in-box, Tetra Pak, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles. Here's and exerpt covering bag-in-box wines:

Bag-in-a-box or “cask” wines are going mainstream. Although five-liter boxes of nondescript, generic wines initially gave boxes a bad rep, the arrival of upscale, vintage-dated varietal wines in three-liter packages has dramatically changed the playing field.

ACNielsen scan data identifies the three-liter boxed wines as the fastest-growing premium wine packaging segment. Volume sales have roughly doubled over the most recent three-year period, as has market share.

A standard three-liter package is the equivalent of four glass bottles. Unlike bottles, boxes are disposable, unbreakable, easy to stack, store and carry and they require no corkscrew to open (at least until the sommeliers figure something out). Once chilled, boxes hold their temperature longer than bottles, and offer extra protection from the damaging rays of the sun.

Most boxes are stamped with a “packaged on” or “drink by” date, a useful guarantee of freshness. They have explicit instructions (usually on the bottom of the box) for opening, and there is nothing cheap or cheesy about the functionality of the airtight bag or dripless spout. Because the bag collapses as it is emptied, the wine is never exposed to air. Freshness is guaranteed for a month or more. You can enjoy a small glass with dinner and it will be as fresh on day 30 as it was on day one.

The bag-in-a-box format is especially popular in Scandinavia (ACNielsen reports that almost two-thirds of the wine purchased in Sweden is box wine), but on the production side the trend first took hold in Australia. Hardy’s Stamp and Banrock Station are brands that offer excellent value; unsurprisingly, the Chardonnay and Shiraz are best in show.
These days, you’ll find wines from Italy, France and other formerly tradition-bound countries trying the box format. A South African brand, Rain Dance, is offering Chardonnay and Shiraz in three-liter cartons, emphasizing that the product stays fresh for weeks after opening.

In California, Black Box has introduced vintage-dated varieties such as Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon and Napa Valley Chardonnay. Black Box is part of the Pacific Wine Partners (Constellation Wines U.S.) portfolio, and talks up the value aspect of boxed wine: “The more you know about wine, the less you have to pay.”

Another California winery, Delicato, has succeeded with well-made, vintage-dated Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet in their three-liter Bota Box. And now The Wine Group’s Fish Eye brand is launching an ambitious network television advertising campaign that promises to do for the box what Aldo Cella did for the jug several decades ago.

Washington wineries have also begun to jump on the trend. The three-liter line of Washington Hills “is on fire as a brand,” according to its Seattle distributor. A project dubbed Revelry takes the bag-in-box idea, sizes it down to 1.5 liters, and offers Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in a hip and colorful package. Same bag, but papa’s got a brand new box.

Beyond The Bottle | Articles | Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Gregutt closes with a very good point, the observation that the wines offered in these alternative packages are "drink now" wines, not intended for cellaring. And since the "drink now" category covers the lion's share of what's on the market these days, we'll likely see more and more of it offered in these packages in the next 5 to 10 years.

Boxed Wine Is No Secret

The "secret allure" of boxed wines? This is no secret. Here's a TV news story from Fox News St. Louis. Elliot Weiler interviews Bill Kniep of Pinnacle Imports. Kniep loves the Jean Marc Brocard white table wine from Burgundy. He believes that in seven years or so there will be wide acceptance of boxed wines in the marketplace. Click on the image to go to the video on the Fox St Louis website.

(KTVI - myFOXstl.com) -- Think fine wine and you probably think about pouring from a bottle. But how about tapping a glass of award-winning wine from a box? Contact 2's Elliot Weiler uncorks the secret allure of higher-end boxed wines.

MyFox St. Louis | Contact 2: Boxed Wine vs. Bottled Wine

Boxed Wine Isn't for Everyone

Christian Pillsbury, in an April 24 post on the wine blog winibris, has some great comments on the boxed wine trend.

I don’t like box wine. I am however a fan of box wine. It’s not a snob thing; I just usually know something not much more expensive that will provide me with a lot more pleasure.

winberis.com: On box wine

While boxed wine may not be the choice for him, Christian believes that boxed wine is a great choice for a good sized segment of the wine buying public; the maybe 40% who will walk into Trader Joe's and buy an appealing label for a reasonable price. Maybe there's something good inside, but maybe not. Or the perhaps 20% who are still searching for the beer keg.

Enter modern box wine. I see box wine as an easy, safe bridge to the world of wine. Buy it at Target and Walmart. It’s cheap. With a Mylar bag insert, it will last in the fridge. Many of the wines are better than “Two buck Chuck”, and serve as an easy and confidence inspiring alternative to beer. I am all for the bigger wine companies flexing their economies of scale, and reviving the flagging >$6 wines category with a new, sensible range of offerings.

winberis.com: On box wine

This sensible view is in synch with my feeling that those of us shopping for wine in the $5 - $15 per bottle range have no rational reason to fear 3 liter premium boxed wines, other that "what will the neighbors think."

Related Tags: box, boxed, cask, wine

Will Super-Premium Wine Brands Ever Be Boxed?

This week the Wine & Spirits Daily blog posted the results of an informal reader survey question regarding acceptance of boxed wine. In WILL HIGH END WINES EVER GET BOXED? the responses ran the gamut from "absolutely" to a succinct "NO." Take a look at the post to read all the responses.

Yesterday we revealed survey results concerning critter brand in which most respondents said the category has plenty of momentum in the near term but will eventually fade out. So while we’re on the subject of packaging, we asked readers who took the survey what they think about box wine trends and its premium prospects. The actual question read, “Do you think the recent resurgence in box wine will continue? If so, do you think well-known premium and super-premium wine brands will eventually use this type of packaging?”

While there were some people who were emphatically against the prospect, most people seemed to thing that both premium and super-premium brands will eventually use box packaging. However, a sizable amount of respondents think premium has a chance but not super-premium.

Wine & Spirits Daily: WILL HIGH END WINES EVER GET BOXED?

Related Tags: box, boxed, cask, wine

Wilfred Wong on the Box

Yesterday Patti Reising of KCBS radio in San Francisco spoke with Wilfred Wong, Cellar Master of Bevmo, and Jon Bonne, wine columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, about the increasing quality and popularity of boxed wines. (Listen here).

Boxed Wines Grow in Quality, Popularity

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Boxed wine has long had a bad reputation, and for good reason according to Bevmo Cellar Master Wilfred Wong.

"When boxed wine in America first was put into the marketplace it was really the low grade wine," he explained.

However, new figures by AC Nielson show sales of 3-liter boxed wine grew by 44 percent last year. The numbers aren’t surprising to Wong, or to San Francisco Chronicle wine critic Jon Bonne.

"Boxed wines are getting a whole lot better than they have been in the past and wines that typically people would buy in bottle they're now finding in boxes," said Bonne, who expects the trend to continue.

Bonne added that there are certain people who will likely never serve boxed wine, no matter how high the quality. He said many wine drinkers interact with the bottle in a special way. "What's on the label and the shape of the bottle, the color of the bottle, the way you open it, it's very important."

Boxed wine has the added bonus of staying fresh in the refrigerator longer.

KCBS - Boxed Wines Grow in Quality, Popularity