Why Boxed Wine is Better

Boxed wine tastes better than bottled wine.

Sure bud, anything you say. Time to start reading another blog.

OK, obviously boxed wine isn't better than bottled. But if pragmatism ruled the day, it could be. As noted in the June issue of Rescue magazine, the main enemy of wine is oxidation. And a plastic-lined box can protect wine from oxidation better than any bottle/cork combination.

Why? It's well known that natural cork is not the ideal material for corking a bottle. A certain number of corks fail, resulting in "corked" or spoiled wine. That's why some producers now use synthetic rubber corks or screw tops.

But a box is even better, because the plastic liner collapses around the box as you drain it, protecting the wine from oxygen even after it's been opened. So unless you always finish the bottle the day you open it, a box ought to be the better value.

So does trans Fatty Blog seriously recommend cardboard over glass? No, because style, tradition, and aesthetics all play a role. And having actually learned how to use a corkscrew (a real one, not one of those ridiculous hydraulic contraptions they sell nowadays) I don't want to give up any social advantages that skill might confer. Just reporting the facts.

Comments

[Keith Povall]

You can get some decent wine that comes in boxes, but unfortunately the rule of thumb is that wine boxes contain "party wine". Agreee with all you said about keeping it from oxidising, but oxidation could do some of the dross you get in boxes, the world of good.

[Pierre Brill]

Could samebody help me with some producers of Bag in box 3 litre.

Thank you in advance,

Piérre Brill

[Fly by Night Sailor]

For some good boxed wine suggestions look at http://www.boxwines.org or http://boxedwinespot.blogspot.com
Boxed wines are types meant to be consumed young. The reds will benefit from breathing as will any young red in a bottle. Wine in an bottle won't really "breathe" by simply pulling the cork; this exposes less than one square inch of wine surface to the air. Both bottle and box wines require either decanting, or other aeration. Try pouring with 10-12" of fall to the bottom of the glass, and then swirl aggressively.
In it's day, the bottle was a new technology that brought wine into the homes of the mass market. Now it's happening again, and oddly enough, Europeans seem to be adapting more readily; perhaps they are less insecure about their relationships with wine.
Fly by Night Sailor