It was about 12 years ago, while shopping in a Provence, France, grocery store, that I became mesmerized at the cold case where milk, cheese and wine were all sitting very commonly together. The most startling was that the wines were in the same type of package as the milk. Brilliant, I thought!
The inexpensive plastic and cardboard boxes have been commonplace in most of Europe for many years. It has taken the American consumer some time to warm up to the idea, but today there are many wineries using carton-style packaging.
We are most familiar with these cartons (Tetra Pak) for fruit juice, soy milk and coffee creamers. The Tetra Pak cartons are made from renewable low-carbon raw materials - primarily paperboard made from wood. There are significant environmental advantages to this packaging. Glass makes up about 40 percent of the weight of a bottle of wine, cartons can be as little as 4 percent. And the square shape is more efficient for mass-merchandise packaging, shipping and storage for wholesalers.
The small box fits easily into the refrigerator, taking up considerably less space compared to large box wines or bottles. A drawback (or not) is that each pack holds about three glasses of wine, or about two-thirds of a bottle. But with an average retail of about $5 for the 500 mL container, it’s a good value.
The main downside I see for the future … what will become of my wine rack?
THE VALUES
Bota Box Merlot, California (about $5 retail)
Black Box Chardonnay, California (about $5 retail)
CalNaturale Chardonnay, California (about $5 retail)
Lorri Hambuchen is a member of London’s Institute of Wines and Spirits. Contact her at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or email:
Food, Pages 33 on 03/05/2014