Would You Pay $80 for 3 Liters of Boxed Wine?

Heck, some people ARE paying $80, and more.

This blog post at Tom Wark's Fermentation Daily Wine Blog referenced the Kinssies article which I posted yesterday (Tasting Is Believing). I'm re-running his post here because it raises some good questions; questions which only propogate more questions (no answers) in my mind. (My thoughts follow Wark's post).

Would You Pay $80 For Wine In A Box?

If the Australians, Swedes, English, Danes and progressively more and more Americans are ready to wrap their arms around premium wine in a box (also known as bag in a box), why aren't I?

While watching the Oscars I was chatting with a great friend who is a marketer at a North Coast winery. She was telling me about the investigation her winery was making into perhaps bottling (boxing?) ultra premium wine. Right off the bat I'm thinking, how better to kill an ultra premium brand that has a great reputation. She on the other hand thinks the "Ultra Premium Wine-in-a-Box" might just fly off the shelf. Ultra Premium in this conversation means $20 for 750 ml.

To appreciate her enthusiasm all you have to do is take a look at boxed wine sales.

50% of wine consumed in Australia is from a Box
60% of wine consumed in Sweden is from a Box.
The English are over 25%.

Boxed wines are getting big in America too, but not nearly as big as in Australia or Sweden. "Black Box" is making and selling over 250,000 cases of wine in a box...in just 2 years.

Richard Kinssies, along with my wine marketing friend, believe that eventually American's will embrace wine in a box. Well, I think so too. At a certain price point.

Right now the best boxed wines, usually selling in containers that hold the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine, costs $20-$40 a box. That's about $5-$10 per bottle.

But what about boxes of wine that cost $80 per box---the equivalent of $20 per bottle. Will it sell? Is my wine marketing friend who's considering this off her rocker?

It's clear that for acceptance of the boxed wines, consumers need to feel like the wine in the box is far better than they thought it should be. Expectations need to be exceeded. That's what has gotten American's interested in boxed wines so far and it's what has led Australians to completely embrace the concept.

What kind of wine would you have to put in a box that sold for $80 in order to exceed consumer expectations? PDGW...Pretty Damn Good Wine.

What producers have going for them is that packaging costs are far less for boxed wines than they are for bottled wines...up to 80% in some cases. And apparently the box technology is great. Nevertheless, it seems to me that to pull off this feat of exceeding expectations, you'd have to work hard to convince consumers that the only relationship between quality wine and its package is the extent to which the package keeps the wine at its original high quality. Clearly this is the case. The only job of the wine package is to preserve and do no harm.

But we are a funny people. We like our packaging here in America. The light blue box that says "Tiffany" on it often stays on the dresser long after the broach inside it finds its way to the back of the drawer.

I'm skeptical that Americans in any number would accept the idea of paying $80 for a box full of wine.

Am I wrong? Am I just a snob?

Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog: Would You Pay $80 For Wine In A Box?

I think American wine consumers will be much less likely to pay $80 for wine in a box if they cannot taste it first, either by purchasing a 750ml bottle, or by sampling at a tasting (or a wine wall). One of the problems with the box for many has been the prospect of possibly ending up with almost 3 liters of "cooking" wine (or worse yet, pouring it down the drain). A 750 ml unknown is a lot easier to venture into than a 3000 ml unknown. So will the mercants please give us those tasting opportunities? (I love the "tasting wall" in Germany).

Virtually all boxed wines these days are either types that are meant to be consumed young, or the are "pre-cellared" in bulk. This is because the film bag and the valve form an imperfect oxygen barrier, and for this reason, boxed wine should be consumed within 6-18 months.

Scholle Corp. claims they are getting closer to solving this oxygen problem. If the film technology is improved to form a more perfect oxygen barrier, then wine could be preserved for long periods in bag-in-box packaging. What would the customer think then?

If the film could be precisely engineered for a small but exacting degree of oxygen permeability, could the bag-in-box packaging then match the aging qualities of a bottle with a natural cork? How would such advances, and the possibilities for long term cellaring change the perception of the package?

As I said, lots of questions. No answers.

Tefft Cellars Cabernet-Merlot 4 Liter Box

Tefft Cellars is a small family-owned winery in Washington's Yakima Valley. Tefft offers specialty wines and vintages in limited quantities, including two boxed wines which have sold beyond Joel Tefft's expectations; this Cab-Merlot blend has become the biggest seller in his line-up.

Tefft Cellars Cabernet-Merlot
Tefft Cellars
Yakima Valley, Washington
4 liter box, NV
About $20 - $34

This is a classic Bordeaux blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine shows rich flavors of berries and plums, making it an enjoyable wine, with or without food. The 4-liter box is just right for parties, reunions, boating, RVing or single glass servings.

Tefft Cellars Winery - A complete Yakima Valley Wine Country Experience

Reviews in the press:

Roger Downey, February 16, 2005, Seattle Weekly

A robust Bordeaux-style red (60 percent cabernet sauvignon, 40 percent merlot), it has enough tannin and oak to give the wine some weight on the palate without sacrificing a fine, lingering fruity finish that makes it agreeable to drink on its own, and first-rate with food.

Box Score (Seattle Weekly)

October 2003, Food & Wine magazine

106 BEST WINE FROM A BOX It took some cajoling to get F&W editors to a tasting of boxed wines. The surprisingly delicious winner: a blend of Cabernet and Merlot from Washington State's Tefft Cellars. Juicy and ripe, at $30 for 4 liters (the equivalent of five bottles) it's a great deal.

125 Reasons We Love Wine | Food & Wine

Reviews in blogs & forums:


MagnumGourmet, October 28, 2004, cellartracker.com

Best boxed wine ever.

N.V. Tefft Cellars Cabernet-Merlot (USA, Washington, Columbia Valley) - CellarTracker!

technorati tags: box, boxed, wine, Cabernet, Merlot, Tefft, Cellars

Tasting Is Believing

Here's an excellent article out of the 2005 files from Richard Kinssies at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Kinssies provides an excellent overview of the history of bag-in-box packaging as well as it's future, and the present day landscape of the premium boxed wine marketplace.

Wednesday, February 2, 2005
On Wine: Premium wines from a box? Tasting is believing
By RICHARD KINSSIES SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

The advent of the premium boxed-wine category in this country perhaps is better described as an evolution than a revolution. Many factors have aligned over time to make it possible.

Wine consumption is up but so is production and wineries are feeling the urgent need to move more wine cheaply. But they also understand that quality has become the yapping dog at their heels -- consumers have tasted the good stuff and they're never going back.

Alternative packaging is becoming common as wines are being marketed in "Tetra Paks," small glass jugs, plastic bottles and even cans complete with straws.

Then there is the fact that we have been liberated from the cork. Few of us are shocked to see a brightly colored polymer stopper, or better yet, a screw cap on a premium bottle of wine. It's a far shorter distance from screw cap to box than from cork to box.

The bag-in-the-box system was created 40 years ago by the Scholle Corp. of Northlake, Ill., for sulfuric acid battery electrolyte disposal. It was 25 years ago that the Australians decided it might be a good idea for packaging wine and were so successful with it that they often are credited erroneously with its invention.

Here's how it works: The inner bag is made of several layers of clear plastic film to which a spigot or tap is attached. After the bag is filled (the box is used only for stability and aesthetics) the wine is in a sterile and nearly anaerobic environment. But since the bag and the tap are not utterly impervious to oxygen, small amounts will enter the wine over time, causing the quality to eventually deteriorate. Oxygen doesn't enter the bag through use. The bag simply collapses as it empties, so if the wine is consumed within a month or so, the last glass should be in the same condition as the first.

The Scholle folks claim they are getting closer to solving the oxygen issue, at which time wines theoretically could be kept indefinitely, which opens up entirely new possibilities for even the finest quality wines.

There are many advantages to buying wine in a box, especially price and convenience. Since the producer can save up to 80 percent of packaging costs (as well as some shipping and storing costs), he can afford to sell the wine for less. The producers of Black Box wines say the $20 price of their boxed wines would double if they were sold in glass bottles.

A 3-liter box holds an amount equivalent to four 750 ml bottles yet it takes up not much more room and weighs little more than a half-gallon carton of milk. Wine can be drunk one glass at a time over a period of weeks or months so there is no waste. The package is lightweight, portable, very durable and wildly popular with boaters and campers who don't want to deal with glass. And perhaps best of all, no special tool is required to open it.

Presently the biggest obstacle to the category is, ironically, the box. Market penetration is slow and hard work mostly because many retailers can't get beyond the packaging. Ryan Sproule, creator of the first and most successful American-made box wine, Black Box, notes that in order "to get over the stigma of a box wine you need to be better quality" than what the buyer expects. Consumers, however, seem to be more open-minded.

The Australian Tindindi brand went from unknown to selling nearly 12,000 cases in about three months in the Northwest market alone. Black Box went from an idea to 250,000 cases a year in just over 24 months.

"People are so willing to try it," says Seattle native Jill Beaven, owner of the Tindindi brand that is rapidly becoming the darling of the local boxed-wine set. "I'm astounded at how well people have responded to it," she gushes.

Dan McCarthy, co-owner of the upscale McCarthy and Schiering Wine Merchants in the Queen Ann and Ravenna neighborhoods, agrees. "The customer is ready for it," he says of his success with wines such as Tindindi and Black Box. He does admit, however, to having "raised quite a few eyebrows" when he first stocked the wines.

A wine bar is perhaps the last place you'd expect to find a bag-in-the-box wine, but Cliff Willwerth, owner of the tony Impromptu Wine Bar in Madison Park, is unapologetic about pouring Tindindi as his house wine. "We find the best wines at the best prices, so why not?" he says.

For the entire U.S. wine industry, from producers to retailers and restaurateurs, the writing is on the wall. As the Euro erodes the buying power of the dollar, boxed wines may be the only way European producers can remain competitive here. Information like that doesn't go unnoticed by the corporate Goliaths. Drool collects at the corners of their mouths as they study the numbers. Expect the battle of the boxes to begin.

BUYING BOXED WINES

These are some of the most available 3-liter, bag-in-the-box wines. But look for several other offerings from Italy and France to hit the shelves shortly. Remember -- each box holds the equivalent of four standard wine bottles.

Black Box was established barely two years ago as the first brand to offer premium California boxed wine. It now leads the category with 250,000 cases annually. Wines include: Black Box 2002 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, $20; 2001 Sonoma Merlot, $20; 2003 Monterey Chardonnay, $20.

Tindindi brand of South Australia, which was founded by Seattle native Jill Beaven and her Aussie husband, Andrew, is the current rising star of the premium boxed-wine category in the Northwest. Tindindi offers a 2001 Limestone Coast Cabernet Sauvignon ($22) and 2004 Limestone Coast Chardonnay ($22).

Teft Cellars was the first to offer a Washington boxed wine. Teft now offers 4-liter boxes (equivalent of 5.5 bottles) of Non-Vintage Washington State Cabernet/Merlot ($22) and 2003 Washington State Chardonnay ($23).

Other boxed wines available:

Washington Hills 2003 Washington State Merlot ($20)

Washington Hills 2003 Washington State Chardonnay ($20)

English Estate 2002 Gravel Mine Pinot Noir Clark Co. WA ($81)

English Estate 2001 Clark Co. Premium Pinot Noir WA ($64)

English Estate 2003 White From Black Pinot Noir WA ($54)

Chateau des Alouettes 2002 Costier de Nimes Rouge ($20)

X Box 2003 Lake County Sauvignon Blanc ($34)

X Box 2002 Los Carneros Chardonnay ($34)

X Box 2002 California Cabernet Sauvignon ($34)

Hardys Stamp of Australia 2002 Shiraz ($17)

Hardys Stamp of Australia 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon ($17)

Hardys Stamp of Australia 2003 Chardonnay

Banrock Station 2003 Shiraz ($17)

Banrock Station 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon ($17)

Banrock Station 2003 Merlot ($17)

Banrock Station 2004 Chardonnay ($17)

Richard Kinssies is a freelance wine writer, an instructor at the Seattle Culinary Academy and director of the Seattle Wine School. He can be contacted at 206-782-0617 or richardkinssies@msn.com.

On Wine: Premium wines from a box? Tasting is believing

technorati tags: box, boxed, wine

Le Faux Frog Pinot Noir 3 Liter Box

This French Pinot Noir is imported by Todd Williams of Toad Hollow Vineyards and boxed under the a whimsical and eye-catching critter label.

Le Faux Frog 2004 Pinot Noir Vin de Pays d'Oc
From Toad Hollow Vineyards
Limoux, France
3 liter box
About $25.00

Todd Williams (aka "the Toadster") is quite a character. There's an interesting interview with him in Evansville, Indiana's What's Cooking. Catch it in the reprint on the Toad Hollow site. He's Robin Williams brother (half) and had a cameo in Mrs. Doubtfire.

I found this Pinot Noir available at MGM Liquor Warehouse in Minneapolis, and I am looking forward to opening the box I have set aside for Christmas dinner.

P.S. We loved it! Le Faux Frog Pinot Noir is the new favorite of the Fly by Night crew. My husband loves it, and wants me to find more. We give it four out of five stars. Lovely color, good legs, very fragrant and tasty. A significant amount of sediment. I recommend decanting, as we did each night we drank it; or at least, don't jostle the box around.

technorati tags: box, boxed, wine, pinot, noir, Toad Hollow

Boxed Wine Catching On in Midwest

Here's an article out of the 2005 files. In the May 5, 2005 edition of On Milwaukee magazine, Molly Snyder Edler writes about Milwaukeeans catching on to the advantages of boxed wine.

Bag-in-the-box wine busts out with new image

By Molly Snyder Edler
OMC Staff Writer

Once upon a headache, box wines fell into the same category as Ramen noodles and frozen burritos: something college students, starving artists, frugal penny-pinchers and the financially challenged purchased because they were on-the-cheap. However, box wine –- sometimes called “cask wine” -- has regrouped and returned, with a fresh image and much better product.

“Wine snobs may turn up their noses at box wine, but if the wine tastes great, who cares?” asks Cornelius Geary, managing director of Milwaukee's Wineblast.

The latest box wines -- named for the wine-filled plastic “bladder” that comes inside a cardboard box -- are hot trends around the world, primarily in the UK, California and Australia, where the box of wine was invented 30 years ago. Milwaukeeans -- as usual --are a few steps behind, but we're getting there.

“We’ve sold a ton of box wines lately,” says Tom Vaughn, owner of Downer Wine & Spirits.

Today, most boxed wines hold three liters of vino (as opposed to the five liters found in low-end brands like Franzia), are made with premium grape varieties and are vintage-dated.

“The wine industry is sitting on several billion gallons of really top-notch wine due to huge harvests the last few years, so they have a lot of good stuff sitting in barrels out there somewhere,” says Geary.

This surplus is sold off in large amounts at reasonable cost. Hence, the box wine is similar in quality to their bottled brothers, only cheaper. On average, a three-liter box offers four bottles for the price of three. Also, boxes are portable and have a longer fridge life -– reportedly 30 to 90 days.

Some purists claim they can taste plastic on their palate because of the wine-filled plastic bag inside the box, while other wine enthusiasts see the value in box wine, but aren't necessarily swapping cork for cardboard.

“You can’t really compare the two. It’s apples and oranges,” says Michael Ranson, a wine enthusiast for 20 years. “The box isn’t as romantic and it definitely isn’t appropriate for special occasions, but it’s great for picnics.”

To activate your cardboard "wine dispenser," punch out the perforated circle, pull out the spigot and peel off the seal. The bag collapses inside the box as it’s drained, keeping air away from the wine and preventing oxidation. Boxes are stamped with the date the wine is packaged.

Popular brands of cask wine include California’s Delicato and Black Box, and Australia’s Hardy’s and Banrock Station. All are three-liter boxes and cost between $14 and $20.

“Black Box is our most popular cask wine,” says Tom Greguska, wine buyer at Discount Liquor. “The box really sticks out on the shelf and they have been really aggressive with their marketing.”

Greguska says wine drinking is hotter than ever, and that many casual wine drinkers have started to care about taste, but don’t want to dole out big dollars.

“And, with the box wines, you get a fresh glass of wine without the hassle of a cork screw,” he says.

OnMilwaukee.com Bars and Clubs: Bag-in-the-box wine busts out with new image

technorati tags: box, boxed, cask, wine

Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon 5 Liter Box

One of the original big three, Almaden Cab is a 5 liter box that many actually find "slurpable."

Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon
From Almaden Vineyards, Centerra Wine Company, Constellation Brands
California
5 liter box (also available in bottle)
About $12.00 - $19.00

Almaden’s Cabernet Sauvignon is a rewardingly rich dark-red wine with robust character. Ideal with richer foods.

Almaden Vineyards - Our Wines - Cabernet Sauvignon

Reviews in the press:

Carol Emert, December 4, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle

The traditional, 5-liter box wines ranged from surprisingly good to shockingly bad. I was most impressed with Almaden's Cabernet Sauvignon ($10), which tasted and smelled like Cab, although it was very, very light.

Box wine is getting better all the time

Frank Sutherland and Kate Sutherland, December 14, 2005, The Tennessean

Non-vintage Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon
$18.99 (5 liter box)
Musky grape juice. Reminiscent of flat cherry cola.
Some acids and structure on the palate.
Fruit and acids battle too much. Not well balanced.

Jessie Price, 2006, Eating Well

We were pleasantly surprised by the Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon in the 5-liter box, though it didn’t make our Top 12 ranking.

Thinking Inside the Box - Eating Well

Cindy Kibbe, Aug 18, 2006, New Hampshire Business Review

Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon (California, 5L, $13.99): Use this wine in a marinade. ‘Nuf said.

New Hampshire Business Review

Tim Protzman, November 9, 2006, the Manchester Hippo

Better than I expected

HippoPress -- The Hippo -- Guide to Manchester and Nashua NH

Reviews in Blogs:

Box Wine Guy, November 23, 2005, Box Wines blog

Our Rating: 7 out of 10
. . .
With the price comes middling quality. The Almaden boxed Cab is probably the best of the 5 liter group, at least from a red standpoint. It has a pleasant, if faint, fruity/floral aroma. Its color is deep garnet. The flavor is of berries, with fairly strong tannins. The overall impression is a bit thin and light. A couple of times I detected a very slight, fishy off-note. The finish offers a lingering hint of pepper.

Wines » Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon - Box

Reviews in Stores:

Beverages & More

The Almaden Cabernet drinks nicely and has no edges or hard spots

BevMo - Almaden Cabernet Box

technorati tags: box, boxed, wine, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Almaden, review

Celery Stick Not Included

Here's another bag-in-box option for holiday entertaining - cocktails in a box! I first saw this new item last fall, but now, in this season of holiday brunches, this Bloody Mary box looks like just the thing. Next summer, I'd like to try the Margarita for no-glass enjoyment by the pool, or the Mangotini on the beach.

Daily's Launches The First Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary in a Bag-in-Box

Daily’s, America’s premium brand of fruit mixers and now, ready-to-drink cocktails, hits the market this September with the industry’s first Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary in a convenient new Bag-in-Box format.

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) July 26, 2006 -- Daily’s, America’s premium brand of fruit mixers and now, ready-to-drink cocktails, hits the market this September with the industry’s first Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary in a convenient new Bag-in-Box format.

Daily’s Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary is the latest addition to the company’s line of innovative, chilled cocktails including Margarita, Cosmopolitan, Mangotini and Appletini that are available in an easy-to-use 1.75 liter bag-in-box size that is perfect for enjoying at home or anywhere.

“The Bloody Mary is at the top of the list of most popular cocktails,” notes Tim Barr, Director of Marketing for Daily’s, “but it is not an easy cocktail for consumers to make. We have made it easy by developing a high quality, delicious premixed Bloody Mary in a compact, tote-anywhere box. Now consumers can tap into great tasting Bloody Marys from the fridge, the cooler on game day, the picnic table, the patio – anywhere – at the push of a button without work or waiting.” Barr continues, “And what better time than the fall tailgating season, the most popular season for hearty, flavorful Bloody Marys.”

To support the launch of the Bloody Mary Bag-in-Box, Daily’s is planning a “Get into the Red Zone” promotional display program and consumer sweepstakes program. The promotion includes POS and cross merchandising materials that help create tailgating themed displays at retail by tying Daily’s Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary’s with other popular game day party items such as snack foods and grilling accessories. The sweepstakes program offers chances to win a trip to the Ultimate Red Zone in Miami – for the big game on February 4, 2007. Sweepstakes entry will be available at point of sale or at www.dailysreadytodrink.com. In addition, local advertising including sporting event program books will help create awareness and drive consumers to the microsite and the sweepstakes program.

Daily’s Ready-to-Drink products and Fruit Mixers are manufactured by American Beverage Corporation. ABC, a diversified non-carbonated beverage company, is part of the multi-billion dollar Dutch food group Royal Wessanen.

Daily's Launches The First Ready-to-Drink Bloody Mary in a Bag-in-Box

technorati tags: box, boxed, bag-in-box, cocktail, bloody, mary, margarita, cosmopolitan, Daily's