Box Wines
A wine blog with news and reviews of affordable wines

Price: $3
Maker: Oak Leaf Vineyards, Ripon, California
Varietal: Chardonnay
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, artificial cork
Alcohol: 12.5%
Our Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Oak Leaf Chardonnay is another ultra-inexpensive wine designed to take on Two Buck Chuck. Surprisingly, perhaps, it’s quite drinkable, even if undistinguished. The nose is mild, with sliced green apples and oak. On the palate, there’s more oak than fruit, with weak pear and apple notes. This Chardonnay is saved from failure by having a spicy finish with an acidic bite. The finish is pleasantly long.

This wine is sold through Wal-Mart. I’ve had comments from visitors who have see Oak Leaf wines as cheap as $2. For the price, Oak Leaf Chardonnay is an exceptional value. It may not be what you take to your boss’s house party, but if you need to throw a dozen bottles of white wine in a tub of ice at your family picnic, you could do a lot worse than Oak Leaf Chardonnay.

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Price: $10
Maker: Folie à Deux Winery, St. Helena, Napa County, California
Varietal: Blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: Bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois Red 2006 is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon that most heavily favors the Zin side of its heritage. It has a nice aroma of spicy berries. It’s flavor is jammy, with strawberries, raspberries, and chocolate notes, and the finish is slightly peppery. This red wine leans toward the sweet side a bit.

We found a few other wine bloggers who have tried Menage a Trois Red. Budget Vino said, “This wine is overly sweet- so much so that I questioned whether I would be able to finish the glass I poured and salvage my $10 investment.” The Wine Cask Blog liked it a bit more, saying, “It delivers easy drinkability and simple, fruity tastes and smells. Structurally it is unsophisticated but not poor. A good every-day value wine.” Yoav thought it “went down nicely.” And, G&D’s mother-in-law recommended she try Menage a Trois, much to G&D’s delight.

The last vintage of this wine we tried was Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois Red 2003.

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The New York Times quotes Bloomberg News in Italy Joins the Boxed Wine Rebellion by Mike Nizza:

Italy’s Agriculture Ministry said that some fine Italian wines that receive government quality guarantees will be allowed to be sold in boxes.

I find this encouraging, if a bit odd. When I was last in Italy, there seemed to be no regulation against some wine shops dispensing directly from a large stainless steel tank into a recycled 1.5 liter water bottle (or, presumably, any other container provided by the customer). That’s hardly ideal storage and preservation technology. Why the Italian government would worry about the well-proven performance of today’s boxed wine packaging isn’t clear.

In any case, this is one more indicator that box wines are moving upscale and becoming better accepted.

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Price: $10
Maker: Cavit S.C., Trento, Italy
Varietal: Merlot
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 12.5 %
Our Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Cavit Merlot Trentino 2005 starts with a mild berry and licorice nose. Its flavor is very juicy, with strawberry and cherry notes. The finish is a bit astringent.

According to the Cavit Collection website,

In Trentino, this variety has found a particularly favorable environment and has become one of the region’s more abundantly cultivated red grapes. The cradle of production is represented by the vineyards of Trentino’s Valle Lagarina (Lagarina Valley) with other locales including Avio, Ala, Serravalle, Mori, Villalagarina, and Pomaroloe Nomi and only 100% merlot grapes are used.

Overall, we found Cavit Merlot Trentino 2005 quite drinkable, particularly if you like fruitier and jucier reds. It’s fine for every day drinking or party fare.

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Price: $19
Maker: F.W. Langguth Erben GmbH & Co. KG
Varietal: Riesling
Packaging: 3-liter box, push-button spigot
Alcohol: 10.5%
Our Rating: 8.2 out of 10

It’s taken us quite a while to get around to tasting Blue Nun Riesling, a non-vintage German wine that has been marketed in the U.S. for decades. This was in part because I tend to lean toward red wines, and in part because I’ve avoided man of the ever-present supermarket boxed wine. This Riesling has pear and pineapple flavors, with a hint of citrus in the finish. It’s relatively sweet and simple, and lacks the crisp, acidic finish that might tone down the sweetness.

This wine will appeal quite readily to those who aren’t regular wine drinkers - its fruity sweetness won’t offend at all. In fact, “inoffensive” is a good way to characterize Blue Nun Riesling. As such, it might be a good choice for a picnic white or similar uses.

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Post at Neuromarketing: Please Your Guests by Fooling Them. A study shows that in blind taste tests, average wine drinkers rate the cheap stuff higher than more expensive wine. Here’s a chart from the post that suggests you can maximize the enjoyment of your guests by serving them cheap wine they think is expensive:

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Price: $12
Maker: Alexander Valley Vineyards, Sonoma County, Healdsburg, California
Varietal: Sangiovese
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, screw cap
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Alexander Valley dry Rosé of Sangiovese 2007 has enticing aroma of melon and flowers, and is a crystal-clear dark pink color. It’s flavor is an interesting mix of watermelon and berries, with a crisp acidity that’s so tingly on the tongue that one expects bubbles to form. We see very few Rosé wines here, and even fewer of this quality.

We paired this Rosé with outdoor-grilled salmon, and the wine held its own just fine. It’s a nice accompaniment to lighter fare. We’d also suggest this Rosé to a white wine drinker looking for a wine with a bit more punch to it but who doesn’t care for the heavier reds. The Sangiovese grape used for this wine is the same grape that goes into Chianti, but don’t worry - this Rosé is totally unlike a red Sangiovese.

The bottle uses a screw cap closure. The winery chose the metal cap based this wine’s status as a “lively wine intended for immediate consumption.” We guarantee that when you crack open a bottle of Alexander Valley dry Rosé of Sangiovese 2007, immediate consumption will be no problem at all.

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Price: $14
Maker: Concannon Vineyard, Livermore & San Luis Obispo, California
Varietal: Petite Syrah
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Concannon Limited Release Petite Sirah 2005 (Limited Release) sets high expectations by calling itself “America’s Finest Petite Syrah.” We haven’t tasted enough Petite Syrahs to confirm their assertion, but this red wine doesn’t disappoint. It delivers a big, rounded black cherry flavor and a long, peppery finish with well-balanced tannins. This is a very pleasant wine by itself, and would pair well with a nice grilled strip steak.

Water Into Wino wasn’t a fan of the 2004 vintage, calling it “not at all my style” and suggesting that it smelled like a purple magic marker. Ouch. Tom and Melody liked it a lot more: “It was delicious: tannic with jammy, plummy fruit and a rich, full body. A great example of a wine with a lot of fruit taste that is also dry so that it’s definitely not a fruit bomb.” CheapFunWines thought it was, “Pleasant, soft and easy to drink.” Wine Centric called it “pure heaven.”

We like this wine a lot, and think it would make a nice hostess gift - the bottle is very attractive, the wine is great, and a Petite Sirah is a bit different from the more common Cab or Merlot.

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Price: $10
Maker: Viña Santa Rita S.A., Santiago, Chile
Varietal: Merlot
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 14.1%
Our Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Santa Rita 120 Merlot 2006 is a big, bold red, almost un-Merlot-like in its boldness and complexity. Its nose is pleasant but ordinary, with ripe raspberry and vanilla notes. On the palate, this Merlot starts off with the slightly sweet, rounded fruitiness of cherries and plums. As it lingers on the palate, the flavors intensify, with oak and balanced tannings coming to the fore. This flavor accelleration isn’t all that common, and it was nice to find in this Chilean Merlot. The alcohol content of this wine is shown as 14.1% on the label and 14.5% on the winery’s website - either is high for a Merlot, a fact which may explain part of the wine’s robust flavor.

The Santa Rita winery “was founded in 1880, by a distinguished entrepreneur of those times, Mr. Domingo Fernández Concha in the area of Alto Jahuel.” The 120 series, which the website lauds for its “freshness… youthness [sic]… consistency,” is named for 120 Chilean patriots, led by the improbably-named General O’Higgins, sought refuge in the cellars of Santa Rita as they fought for independence from Spain. It’s a good thing the cellars weren’t stocked with this Merlot - Chile’s independence might have been stalled for years!

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We tasted Killer Juice Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 and liked the wine. We were also impressed by Killer Juice’s use of the packaging to enhance the shelf appeal of the wine.

In a typical supermarket or wine shop, the customer is presented with a staggering array of wines. Boxed wines in particular may be a challenge, since many consumers associate the concept with ultra-cheap product from brands like Franzia. Killer Juice does several things to stand out beyond the wine’s attractive black packaging.

Their first step is far from unique - they put a big gold emblem on the box to promote the Cab’s winning a gold medal at the 2007 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition. Other wineries do that, but most don’t. Particularly for a boxed wine, a prestigious-looking award is a vote of confidence that could turn an uncertain wine shopper into a buyer.

The second thing Killer Juice does is even more clever. Many wine shoppers may have difficulty assessing the value of a box of wine. For one, boxes are deceptively compact - a three-liter box doesn’t look like it holds the same amount of wine as four 750ml bottles, even though it does. Many box wine makers print the equivalent number of bottles, or even use little bottle pictures to illustrate the capacity of the box. Killer Juice goes a step farther, and prints “Contains 4 Bottles of Killer $10 Wine” on three sides of the box.

This message communicates more than quantity. It says something about quality to the consumer - a $10 bottle value suggests wine that is better than plonk, and might actually be pretty good. In one fell swoop, Killer Juice establishes an equivalent bottle value, and highlights the big savings their package offers.

Will these small enhancements make Killer Juice boxed red wines fly off the shelves? Probably not. But they will help, and as the glassy-eyed wine buyers stares at the shelf laden with boxwines, they could tip the balance.

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