“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.”
– James Cash Penney
When large and successful companies started selling a product like boxed wine on a regular basis, most folks in the vino world shrugged. However, when they start selling ‘premium boxed wine’ then people start taking notice. While those same experts might be cringing at the thought of a socalled premium wine being sold by the box, premium boxed wine appears to be here to stay.
Just as industry experts scoffed at the idea of canned wine, which is apparently on the horizon as a product for the near future, it seems as though boxed wine has found a following and now quality wines are coming to the fore. Award-winning Black Box Wines has sold millions producing Cabs, Merlot, Chards and almost any other major varietal you can think of. This segment of wine is on the rise.
Now comes vino giant Gallo who is bringing the brand name of Vin Vault into the fray and it looks like they’re looking forward to big growth. Said Vice President of Marketing Stephanie Gallo:
“There’s a sea change occurring in consumers’ perception of wine. It’s becoming a casual social beverage as an adjunct to the dinner table.”
With a larger and younger crowd now buying wine, the advent of screw caps, canned and bag-in-a-box wine has taken off and may be the future of wine as we know it. If to put a seal on it, if you will, even Good Housekeeping thought four different boxed wines should receive their stamp of approval.
As many winemakers were apt to say to me over the years, it all starts in the vineyard; so, if quality comes off the vines, it will presumably be of that same quality when it’s placed in a bag or a bottle. Something else to keep in mind and is an argument the bag-in-a-box crowd has preached for awhile is that the wine last longer in a bag than a bottle. Of course, once you open a bottle of wine, it needs to be drank within the next couple of days, while a bag can stay fresh and last a solid month after being first opened. I’m sure this isn’t lost on wines like Black Box and Vin Vault.
Another company has put a crate spin to this phenomena by rethinking the packaging with a bag in a wooden box from Wineberry of France. This actually has been out for four or maybe five years now and tries to waylay the stigma of cardboard wine with a classy looking wooden crate box.
These premium boxed wines are retailing at between $20 and $30 a three liter box (the equivalent of four bottles), the old me would have said, ‘heck yeah, give me some of that boxed wine’. The more informed and now nuanced me isn’t so sure yet. Still, sales of premium boxed wine are booming and portability is big nowadays, plus it has to remembered the younger crowd isn’t sold on the pop of the cork and would just as soon have a good vino drained from a bag as be poured from a bottle.
The times they are a changin’.
Paso Wine Barrels 