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Drink inside the box
Forget corks and screw caps; boxed wines are improving all the time
BY KERRY LYNCH

While "embraced" might be an overstatement, some of us have gotten used to wine bottles with screw caps — or at least we no longer snicker and make dark references to mobile homes when we see them. But now a small group of vintners is pushing the envelope once again. Good boxed wine, they say, is coming to a tabletop near you. What’s next, you wonder — wine in a can?

Boxed wines have been big business in Australia and Europe for years, but several American and Australian vintners are now putting quality wine in a box for US tipplers for the first time. We’re talking award-winning vintages here, not the grape-scented nail-polish-remover wine of yore. And, please, call them "cask wines."

So we decided to put some of these wines to the test. We laughed, we doubted, we held our noses and joked about white zinfandel at hipster house parties in Davis Square. Then, my friends, we drank. And there’s no doubt about it: boxed wines are creating quite a buzz — and rightly so.

While the wine is technically in a box, it’s actually contained in a vacuum-sealed bag inside the box. And yes, the bags were reportedly originally designed to store battery acid, but never you mind. This bag gives boxed wine one of its greatest advantages: since the spout allows very little oxygen into the bag, the wine can stay good for four weeks or more. And as I discovered while camping in Australia years ago, the foil bags also make excellent pillows when inflated (and, of course, empty).

Jim Fitting, wine buyer at the Wine & Cheese Cask, recommends Hardy’s Stamp of Australia cask wine ($14.99). "It’s pretty good, and it’s a great deal," he says. Each three-liter box is the equivalent of four bottles (about 20 glasses), and Hardy’s boxes the same wine that it bottles.

Hardy’s Chardonnay was a big hit with those aforementioned hipsters. The five-liter Almaden Merlot ($14.99), available at Downtown Wine & Spirits, came in second out of two, though one wine aficionado admitted he wouldn’t have guessed it was from a box. Come 1 a.m., the Almaden was flowing without complaint; the Hardy’s was long gone. Sadly, my pillow theory went untested.

Black Box ($19.99), at Bauer Wine & Spirits, is another one to look for — and its minimalist black box won’t capture too much unwanted attention, either. "It’s the best of the batch," says Howie Rubin, general manager at Bauer. The California winery produces only boxed wine and uses premium Napa Valley grapes for its three-liter chardonnay. Rubin also recommends Black Box’s cabernet sauvignon.

"Buck the stigma. Embrace the box," trumpets Delicato, another California vintner. It boxes an award-winning shiraz ($15.99) that recently rated an impressive 90 in Wine Enthusiast, and its "Bota Box" Merlot ($15.99) was named a Wine Spectator "Best Buy" last year. Both three-liter boxes are available at Marty’s Liquors.

Those of us who are box-conscious can always resort to trickery. Pour the vino into a decanter and no one’s the wiser. Or pretty it up with Target’s stainless-steel box holder ($39.95). While it may not yet be time to retire the corkscrew, these cask wines may at least get you thinking inside the box.

Where to find it:

• Bauer Wine & Spirits, 330 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 262-0363.

• Downtown Wine & Spirits, 225 Elm Street, Somerville, (617) 625-7777.

• Marty’s Liquors, 193 Harvard Avenue, Allston, (617) 782-3250; 675 Washington Street, Newton, (617) 332-1230.

• Target, various locations; www.target.com

• Wine & Cheese Cask, 407 Washington Street, Somerville, (617) 623-8656.


Issue Date: August 20 - 26, 2004
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