Wine Packaging Trends in France

From Expatica

Wine packaging: Bag-in-box, plastic bottles, cork comeback?

BORDEAUX, France, June 22, 2007 (AFP) - In the past 12 years, France, the world's leading wine producer, has fostered just one revolution in the world of packaging -- the bag-in-box, or BIB.

The slow pace of change has been offset however by the fact that French BIB wine tastes much better than that in Britain -- sometimes called the "scourge of the summer party" -- or in the United States.

Holding back innovations in both French packaging and branding has been the complexity of its wine classifications system, as opposed to the simplicity of new world producers such as Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the US.

"Wine is very complex in France, the customer therefore wants reassurance, not novelty," said Olivier Mouchet, wine director at Auchan, a leading French supermarket chain, at this year's Vinexpo, the world's biggest wine trade show.

BIBs, introduced in France in the 1980s, were largely ignored until recently when sales grew as buyers switched from older non-airtight "cubies", which once opened had to be transferred to bottles at home or drunk as soon as possible.

New-age BIBs, plastic air-tight containers with a self-sealing tap, allow wine-lovers to drink by the glass without spoiling the wine or altering its taste.

Mouchet said the rise of BIBs, which now represent 15 per cent of French supermarket wine sales, has doubled Auchan's sales in the last five years.

On the international wine scene, the future holds higher quality wine in BIBs, lighter glass bottles, and light plastic bottles made from PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, a compound developed in the 1970s that is now coming into its own due to its recyclability.

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Wine packaging: Bag-in-box, plastic bottles, cork comeback?, French News, France, Expatica

French Boxed Wine Comes to China?

This little news bit is from China Wines Information Website

The first unique store of French wine bag-in-box was established in Shanghai

Beaujolais wine which had a long history for 102 years was from one of ten major wine regions in France. Recently, the first unique store of Beaujolais wine was set up in Shanghai.

At the wine-tasting for opening, a lot of people spoke highly of the wine. The taste of it was good and its bag-in-box package was convenient for people to take it away. It's welcome in Shanghai.

This French wine had hundreds of varieties including red, white and rose wines. They were separately from Burgundy, Beaujolais, Bordeaux and other ten major wine regions.

The first unique store of French wine bag-in-box was established in Shanghai - wines-info

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

Angel Juice Pinot Grigio 3 Liter Box

The first Italian Pinot Grigio on the list of bag-in-box wines. Have you tried this wine? If so, please leave a comment:

Angel Juice Pinot Grigio
Imported by Angel Juice Cellars, Ripon CA (Underdog Wine Merchants, the Wine Group)
Venezie region, Italy
3 liter box, vintage dated
About $19

With bright citrus notes, tropical fruit and honeysuckle, this Pinot Grigio exhibits the distinctive color, balance and freshness that is unique to this special Italian region.

Adam Richardson, Winemaker, Angel Juice Cellars


Reviews on the web:

October 9, 2006, the Beverage Tasting Institute

Angel Juice 2005 Pinot Grigio, Venezie IGT $18.99/3 Liter Cask.
Pale golden yellow color. Earthy lemon and wet balsa aromas follow through to a dry, tart medium body with lemon peel, melon, and balsa flavors. Finishes with a tangy, crisp, wet stone accented fade. A nice value.
WORLD WINE CHAMPIONSHIPS AWARD: Silver Medal
86 points (Highly Recommended)

Angel Juice 2005 Pinot Grigio, Venezie IGT $18.99/3 Liter Cask.

Roger, March 2, 2007, Box Wines blog (Roger does not note the vintage of his box, but I'm assuming 2005)

Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10
... a mild, pleasant wine ... The nose is floral with some woody notes and a hint of clove. On the palate, the wine is light-bodied and delicate, with pear, melon and citrus leading into a slightly acidic finish. ... Overall, Angel Juice is a delicate, dry, and refreshing wine that can be enjoyed at any time but might be particularly fun at outdoor summer parties, both for general quaffing and to accompany lighter fare like salads and fruit.

Wines » Angel Juice Pinot Grigio

Sumi, May 15, 2007, comment on Box Wines

i found the wind to lack flavor, taste flabby, and was very disappointed. the color is a darker yellow with some gold in it, rather than what a pinot grigio should look like. not worth the price.

Wines » Angel Juice Pinot Grigio

At Our House: we just finished a box of 2005 Angel Juice Pinot Grigio. We consumed most of it at a Sunday evening gathering at home, and took the remainder to a midweek party. We agreed that it was very good (better than "pretty good," but not "exceptionally good"). Those at the party who tasted it (some with hesitation) found it surprisingly good. We will definitely buy this again.

Related Tags: box, boxed, cask, white, wine, Pinot, Grigio, Angel, Juice, review

VinUno Boxed Wine Box

Many who purchase boxed wine appreciate the convenience and the economy of the box. Are these the people who will spend $132 on a stylish unmarked box from which to serve said boxed wine? Many who shun boxed wine assume the contents to be inferior. Will placing the bag of wine in a fancy, anonymous, Danish box improve their opinion of the contents?

I'm not sure who the VinUno is for. Certainly not for me. Designed by Lars Erdman, the VinUno is made of polished steel and laquered wood. It's available in dark red, white, and black, and you can put a "cooling element" in to keep white wine cold (would that be a cold-pack?). $132.12 from Scandinavian Design Center.

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

How Well Does It Keep - Really

Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, wine writers for the Wall Street Journal, had a great article yesterday on a little boxed wine experiment they conducted. In Boxed Wines Face The Six-Week Challenge, we learn the answer to the question they posed - does boxed wine really last for weeks after opening? They designed a blind tasting experiment using FishEye wines, and the results are VERY surprising!

FishEye claims -- and other boxed wines make similar claims -- that its wines will keep well for six weeks after opening because the plastic bag inside the box collapses and therefore keeps out air. We decided to test the claim. We bought seven boxes of FishEye Chardonnay (vintage 2005, "best when consumed before Nov. 6, 2007"). They cost $16 each, or about $4 per regular bottle. Our idea was that we would open one every week for six weeks and empty about a sixth of the contents. Then we'd taste the six boxes against a newly opened box six weeks later. We opened the first box, found the pour spout and tapped the bag. Then we tasted the Chardonnay and it was OK, but harsh. We decided that we couldn't very well perform our test with this wine because it didn't taste that good to us to begin with, so then we tried FishEye's 2006 Pinot Grigio, which was fairly pleasant and not too sweet (though it smelled and tasted more like Sauvignon Blanc), and its Shiraz, which was tasty -- "soft and pleasant, with integrated acidity and nice fruit." The Shiraz seemed perfect for our experiment. (All of the boxes cost $16.) While FishEye doesn't say the boxes need to be refrigerated, we did this because these simple wines, even the Shiraz, are better with a chill.

Over the next six weeks, we opened one box of Shiraz every Friday and poured out about one-sixth of all of them that were open. (The Shiraz was vintage 2004, "best when consumed before Dec. 1, 2007.") Because we had the Chardonnay anyway, we went ahead and conducted the experiment with those boxes, too. Soon, our refrigerators were groaning under the weight of boxed wines.

A Pleasant Surprise

At the end of the experiment, first we tasted the box of Pinot Grigio we'd tried weeks earlier. It was still pleasant, with some lemon, peach and kiwi. It tasted somewhat watery, but not at all oxidized. It didn't taste like it had been open for six weeks.

Then we put all of the boxes of Chardonnay and Shiraz on a table. We had noted on the bottom of the box when each was opened. We asked a friend to serve them so we wouldn't be able to tell which boxes were lightest and which were heaviest, and therefore we were able to taste the seven wines blind: from one open for six weeks to one just opened fresh.

The Chardonnays, on the whole, continued to taste pleasant enough but a bit harsh. Three smelled and tasted notably sulfuric. All tasted of pineapple -- sometimes sweet pineapple and sometimes watery pineapple. One was clearly the best. It tasted riper, fresher and cleaner than the rest. This turned out to be the newest box, the one we had just opened. But our second favorite was the wine we'd opened the third week of the experiment, and our third favorite was the very first we'd opened, all those weeks before. Overall, the boxes we opened first and last were the best; the boxes opened in the middle weeks were the ones that tasted and smelled less fresh. But none of the boxes tasted oxidized or obviously off. We've tried some wines by the glass at tony wine bars that tasted far more over the hill.

We sampled the Shirazes next. Once again, none of them was obviously oxidized. The difference among them was that a couple tasted vibrant and alive -- these were wines we would take to a picnic ourselves -- while others had the same basic tastes, but they'd lost life and seemed somewhat dull and flat. In any event, none of them tasted as sweet, alcoholic and heavy as many jug wines on the market and even many under-$20 wines in bottles.

When we checked the bottom of the boxes, it turned out that our favorite Shiraz had been opened in week No. 4 and our second favorite had been the very first cask we opened. Our third favorite was the freshest box. Once again, it appeared that the boxes from the fifth and sixth weeks -- those open for one week and two weeks -- were the most problematic. Call it a dumb period.

So, the bottom line: It's true. The wine really does keep for six weeks. It has its ups and downs in your refrigerator, but it will keep fine. Would we keep a box of wine in our refrigerator for six weeks? Well, no. Today, there are so many interesting, affordable wines on the shelves that we'd rather taste several wines than one wine in a big box. That said, the FishEye Shiraz, at the equivalent of $4 a bottle, is a perfectly nice wine for a party this summer -- and, yes, if you have any left over, you can keep it around until the dog days of summer without it turning hairy.

Tastings - WSJ.com

Related Tags: box, boxed, cask, wine, tasting

Washington Post Samples Some Boxes

Today, from the Washington Post

washingtonpost.com
Sunday Source Tip Sheet

Putting Bacchus in a Box

Boxed wines are anti-chic. They are the wino's wines, Mom's tipple from the fridge after Dad has gone to bed, or painful reminders of cheap college hangovers when our knowledge of wine was limited to "red," "white" and "pink."

Yet wine in a box has some advantages: A three-liter carton takes the space of two bottles but offers the buzz of four. Smaller boxes offer possibilities for covert sipping in places where alcohol might be frowned upon. Boxes fit neatly into a picnic basket and won't break on a patio or pool deck. And they are cheaper than bottles and corks, so the winery can pass that savings on to you.

Despite these conveniences, the stigma remains. After all, wines should bear vintage dates, not freshness dates. Yet with a glut of wine from California, France and Australia in recent years, some producers have been putting better-quality juice in unconventional containers.

The most common uncommon packaging is called "bag in a box" or even, in earthier company, a "bladder pack." Inside the box is a plastic bag that collapses around the wine as it is dispensed, keeping the remainder fresh for as long as four weeks, some companies say. Other wines are packaged in Tetra Paks, those European ´cardboard boxes you may have seen carrying soups at your grocery that come with their own spigots. (And there's something to be said for wine by the spigot!) Here are six locally available wines for those who don't mind thinking inside the box.

— Dave McIntyre - Special to The Washington Post

Sunday Source: Tip Sheet - Putting Bacchus in a Box (washingtonpost.com)

The following are some of the wines McIntyre sampled, and his remarks.

Banrock Station (Australia), 3-liter bag-in-box, $20; 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Chardonnay

Drinkable, but with an out-of-balance oak flavor — and at this price one suspects these wines never saw the inside of a barrel.

Black Box Wines (California), 3-liter bag-in-box, $20; 2005 Monterey County Chardonnay, 2005 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Pinot Grigio, 2004 Merlot

For the price, we're just looking for something fun, tasty and interesting, and these deliver. The chard almost makes me want to get geeky and talk of mangoes and tropical aromas and a vague air of complexity. Extra props for the regional-appellation wines that show a hint of the character of the place.

Franzia (California), 5-liter bag-in-box, $12; Old World Classics Chianti, Argentina

The name Old World Classics Chianti Argentina should be enough to send you to the next aisle, even before you see the freshness date (Nov. 13, 2007, on the box I bought). Sweet, gamey and nothing at all like Chianti, but not nearly as disgusting as I feared, either. Just don't offer me a second glass.

Hardys Stamp of Australia, 3-liter bag-in-box, $20; 2005 Riesling, 2005 Chardonnay

The Riesling, a nice picnic wine, is semi-dry (geek speak for slightly sweet), with the flavor of key lime that helps define Riesling. Quite quaffable and enjoyable in moderation, especially with spicier foods.

Entrepreneur Bringing Premium Boxed Wine to Scotland

From The Scotsman, in Scotland on Sunday, there's an article about an entrepreneur bringing premium boxed wine to Scotland

Sun 3 Jun 2007
Now wine lovers can think out of the box
WILLIAM LYONS WINE CORRESPONDENT

IT USED to be the scourge of the summer party, reserved for the hoi polloi and definitely not for connoisseurs.

But now a Frenchwoman living in Scotland is aiming to do for boxed wine what Volkswagen did for Skoda, with a new range targeted at just the kind of discerning drinker you would expect to shudder at the very idea.

Valerie Blanc, who worked for Glenmorangie, is hoping to put a box on the dining tables of the most picky connoisseurs with a new company that will sell what is known by wine buffs as 'chateaux-bottled' wine - but in a bag.

She hopes the concept will appeal to eco-friendly wine lovers weary of visiting the bottle bank and restaurants who want to serve customers by the glass.

Her firm, Provenance Boutique Wines, offers a range of wines sourced directly from the vineyards of France.

Packaging and shipment are reduced as the boxes are lighter and cheaper to produce than glass. Hefty merchants' fees are also waived as they are shipped direct from the vineyard.

Improvements in technology mean that the vacuum-packed bags-in-boxes can keep the wine fresh for up to six weeks after opening. Prices start at around £41 for a five-litre box - the equivalent of £6.15 a bottle.

The idea came to Blanc on a visit to her family in Bordeaux. "I went to stay with my parents and they served a delicious red wine," she says. "When I asked my father what it was, he produced a box - I couldn't believe it. But he told me that in France there is a huge market for bag-in-box wine. Over there it doesn't carry the same stigma as it does in the UK.

"When I returned to Scotland, I found that the only wine I could find that was sold bag-in-box was basically cheap plonk or co-operative wine. I thought this is crazy, as in America and Australia it is massive."

Travelling back to Bordeaux, Valerie went in search of a number of small, independent producers, picking a handful from the Loire and Cotes de Blaye.

She also realised the concept would attract interest because it is environmentally-friendly.

"In this country we have a real problem with green bottle recycling. At the moment you have to get in your car and drive to the recycling point," she says.

A recent report by Vinexpo found that the wine industry risks losing a generation of customers if it doesn't get better at capturing the attention of younger drinkers.

The survey found that many young drinkers were curious about wine, but deterred by too many choices and styles, complex labelling and wine's stuffy image.

Nick Room, wine buyer for Waitrose, said the new concept would succeed in the British market.

He said: "They sell well in France, and I see no reason why they couldn't take off over here. The market trend is towards environmental packaging and bag-in-box is the best alternative. It just takes something to convince consumers that the wine in the bag is as good as the wine in the bottle."

But others were less convinced. Neil Beckett, editor of the World Of Fine Wine, described the idea as interesting, but said it would still face resistance from some quarters.

"In terms of viability and integrity of the wine it makes much more sense than it would have done in the past. There used to be great problems with oxidation and contamination. A lot of those issues have been resolved.

"But it is a similar issue to screwcaps, there will always be people who are attached to the romance of using a corkscrew and drawing a cork and the whole of ritual of it."

And Philip Larue, the Scottish director of Friarwood fine wine merchants, thought the concept was ridiculous. He said: "

"I know it is very popular in France but I think this sort of thing should be kept to camping. Wine is all about romance and occasion. To some extent presentation is as important as the quality of the liquid that is in the bottle."

Scotland on Sunday - UK - Now wine lovers can think out of the box