Drinking the Box from WBW

Posted on March 21, 2007 by Sonadora

Is it my fridge or the particular box wine I bought? I thought the premise of the box wines was that you can stick it in the fridge and it will keep for up to six weeks.

I have to say that I am not finding that to be the case. My box wine has now been open for a full week. I drank some more out of it a day or two after WBW and I actually have to say that the flavor improved. The fruits were more discernible and it overall had more character.

Then I went back to it a few nights later. It was thin and astringent. The fruit was muted, even after letting my glass warm back up to a more proper temperature. And I just went back again for another glass last night and it’s not that drinkable anymore.

I’m really not sure what happened. I am tempted to leave the rest of the box in the fridge and taste it in a few weeks to see what it’s like. I enjoy the concept of wine that will keep for a while, so long as the quality remains the same. If it won’t even keep for a week, how’s it going to be in 3 weeks? Has anyone else gone back to their box and tasted it? Thoughts?

Filed under: Box Wine, Red, WBW | Comments Off on Drinking the Box from WBW

WBW #31 Round-up Posted

Posted on March 16, 2007 by Sonadora

Roger over at Box Wines has the Round Up Posted from the most recent WBW! Wow, that was fast!

Looks like we had 22 bloggers participate this month and the selections ranged from the good to the bad to the ugly!

So head on over and check out the summaries and see if you can find a box wine (or alternatively packaged wine) that works for you!

I hope the quality of other packaged wines gets better, as I really like the concept of a wine that will stay fresh longer.

Filed under: Box Wine, WBW | Comments Off on WBW #31 Round-up Posted

Memories…..WBW #31

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Sonadora

I have to admit that I am scared of boxed wines. Really, quite terrified. It simply resurrects the image of pink Franzia, or Dr. Franz as we used to call it. Sickeningly sweet, disgusting plonk. So it was with great trepidation that I opened my box for the theme of WBW #31, Wines in Alternative Packaging.

My local wine shop didn’t have any boxed wines at all. So I turned to our discount supermarket, Shopper’s, which had about 15 different varieties of boxed wine. Now, I’m trying to be budget conscious these days, but I also wanted to get something that wasn’t reminiscent of sugar water with cough syrup mixed in.

With that in mind, I chose a 2005 Delicato Shiraz. On its package it proclaimed that it had won gold medals in the early 2000s, so I figured I’d give it a shot. The 3L (so 4 bottles or about 20 glasses) box cost $17.89 and is 13.5% alcohol. It has a little tap as you can see where the wine comes out, which is actually pretty sturdily constructed. And I have to say, that it’s much harder to judge how much you are drinking out of a box than it is out of a bottle.

On the nose, I get an overwhelming sweet, dark fruit scent. So blackberries, but more in their candied forms. And sugar plums, rather than fresh plums. My first impression is that this is going to be a sweet wine. As it sits in my glass I get an underlying chocolate aroma. In the mouth, there is dark fruit and a little bit of spice. It’s not as sweet as I expected it to be, which is a relief. I can’t seem to distinguish which dark fruits are coming through. It’s smooth and easy to drink and I have to keep in mind that averaging it out, it costs less than $5 a bottle. The wine is not complex, but I wouldn’t really expect that at the price point.

It certainly is better than Dr. Franz. And it’s probably equivalent to an $7-$8 a bottle Shiraz. I’m glad I tried a box wine, and many thanks to Box Wines for hosting and getting me to step out of the box (or, I guess into it in this case). I don’t know that this is something I would seek out again. Maybe if I could get it in a smaller box and I really did only drink a glass a night. But 4 bottles is a lot of one wine. I know it will last for many weeks, but at the same time, I open a new and different bottle of wine almost every night. I wouldn’t wrinkle up my nose if I saw this at a party and I could definitely see how the concept of boxed wines would be economical and efficient for a party situation.

I served the wine with homemade pepperoni pizza with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. It worked fairly well, though was a little sweet to be a pizza wine in my opinion.

Filed under: Box Wine, Red, Shiraz, WBW | 3 Comments »

WBW #31 Announced

Posted on February 13, 2007 by Sonadora

This month’s theme is Box Wines and Non Traditional Packaging and is being hosted over on Box Wines. Box Wine Guy has a nice write-up about box wines and other packages that are acceptable.

Now, I have to admit, the thought of box wine brings back horribly horribly painful memories of playing “Never Have I Ever” with my girlfriends in college and drinking some fine Dr. Franz. Though I have to say, the Dr. Franz was a welcome departure from the usual “Fire and Ice” shots that accompanied that game. And I can’t say that I’ve ever had, nor have I ever looked for a box of wine outside of that capacity.

So I guess this month will find me out beating the bushes for a box of wine that doesn’t taste like sweet, burnt rubber. (You think I’m joking, come on, fess up, you’ve had a box of Dr. Franz on occassion.) Hopefully my grocery store will carry something, I can say with about 99% certainty that my local wine shops do not carry boxed wine!

Get your entry in by March 14. Happy box wine hunting!

Filed under: Box Wine, WBW | 2 Comments »