So I went to my local wine shop today and saw this. I love wines from the Rhone valley, big fan. But the packaging.. I wouldn’t buy it. I have tried wines from cans before and while they were okay I won’t be buying them a second time. I’ve never had a wine that was in a plastic bottle, I wouldn’t even consider buying plastic. Am I a snob for wanting my wine to come in glass bottles?
by EstherHazy
24 Comments
Any wine in a tetrapack like that I assume is only good for getting drunk or cooking, not for flavor.
No.
Wine sits in this interesting collision of art and agriculture. The ones who produce wine for art, put care into the bottling, the labelling, the distribution, it’s an extension of the wine maker. A cheap packaging to me reads low pride in the product or produced by someone not invested in the art.
129€ for a little tetra pack? Better be Petrus
I read somewhere that Sweden imports the most boxed wine. I don’t know if it’s because we are more sustainability-conscious or less snobby. 😉
I probably wouldn’t buy it without knowing the producer. I have had the tablas Creek bag in box and it’s really good, made for immediate drinking.
I’d try it, we’re seeing better wine being packaged in cans, boxes, etc. and it’s a good thing. Better for the environment, etc.
I’ve seen and had good wines BiB, but never from a tetrapak. BiB has the added benefit of allowing one to pour repeatedly from the same vessel over weeks without compromising the product, but a tetrapak doesn’t give that optionality — like a bottle, once it’s open it’s open.
I wouldn’t particularly mind if I’m shopping for a single unit for immediate consumption. A picnic maybe? But I buy wines on the same day (or week, month) as I open them exceptionally rarely, so it’s unlikely for stars to align. I would not be surprised to see ever more of this though.
I get a Cotes du Rhône blanc in a 3L box for $30 and it is fantastic. Most wine not in a bottle sucks though but I hope this changes.
Only to a degree. If I’m out at a nice restaurant do I want a 1 liter Tetra package on the table? Probably not. Would I do it at home? Sure, why not. I’d want the wine to be of sufficient quality. Most wines in alternate formats are lower quality that I’ve seen. Likely because most wineries don’t want to attempt alternate formats yet with their premium wines. Cans will be first as they are becoming more accepted. Tetra will follow. Id do it.
I read somewhere that the most important factor when buying wine is the weight of a bottle – people generally associate heavier bottles with quality.
The negative effect of this is that in the end bottles get heavier and more CO2 is produced during transportation of said bottles, controbuting more to climate change and as such affecting many wine regions negatively (all that while putting aside all other negative effects of global warming to the world at large).
Thus, as wine lovers we should embrace alternatives, whether thats bag-in-box or aluminium bottles or, at very least, support producers who pick less heavy bottles.
Are you a snob? I wouldnt say so. But at the end of the day we should all pay less attention to packaging and more attention to whats contained within it.
Tetra pack needs to be drunk within 6 months of filling ideally. Only suitable for relatively inexpensive wines destined for drinking soon after purchase.
Glass is the biggest environmental challenge for the wine industry and i have no problem with tetra packs for cheap and cheery everyday drinking wines at a supermarket
Eh, I would only buy it for heading to a local laid back music festival, an outdoor park picnic, some setting where it would be a major faux pas to accidentally knock over or break a glass bottle in those settings. First and foremost, if the box looks bloated from sitting in a warm corner store or retailer, I would assume it’s cooked and would avoid it.
Other than that, they seem to be popular with women in the United States discreetly pouring the contents into a tumbler or thermos while in their vehicle or garage. In that sense, the medium of material lends itself to better probability and more efficient disposal. These size boxes seem more common than glass bottle splits.
Not sure how that would affect the wine quality or if it could degrade the wine, IMO. Glass bottles are cheap as chips.
The picture answers the question; every other wine was picked over this complete row of wine-in-a-milk-carton.
There is a stat that like 90% of wine purchased is drank within 48 hours. For that wine, tetra pack (or cans or BiB) is perfect. I hope consumers embrace cheaper and more environmentally friendly packaging for that type of wine.
For most wine we are discussing in this sub, no, I won’t buy it in anything other than glass.
Perfect for a picnic: pick up a freshly baked baguette from the local boulangerie, some cheese and pâté de campagne, head to a river bank, spread a blanket, and lounge in the 🌞
People really get hung up on bottles and the perception that they necessarily denotes quality.
To be blunt there is a ton of wine that shouldn’t be bottled. Most stuff that retails for under $20 US probably could stand to be in a tetra pack or some other type of alternative container. And even higher quality wines that are meant to be drunk fresh are great in tetra too. Tablas Creek has started putting limited quantities of their Patelin de Tablas line into 3L packs and it’s freaking great.
I remember when the same crowd complaining about non-bottle packaging was still flipping out about screw caps.
I appreciate nice packaging that isn’t overly bulky or heavy, but in 99% of situations, I want a vessel to allow for proper aging.
Tablas Creek did several blog posts about their decision to offer wine in a box. I thought it was pretty interesting.
[https://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2024/02/thinking-about-the-box-in-which-we-are-thinking-inside-the-box.html](https://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2024/02/thinking-about-the-box-in-which-we-are-thinking-inside-the-box.html)
Systembolaget! 😉 I’ll continue in English though. I have a love-hate relationship with tetrapak wine. I love the convenience, low price and stackability of them, However they are unsexy in a DDR kinda way and I’ve noticed the glue that hold the plastic openung in place disintegrates. I don’t really mind other packaging then glass bottles as long as they hold up well
Question for the wine pros: what are the chances that these grapes were technically premiere cru by classification but the winemaker didn’t deem the batch/barrel up-to-standard for their own label and sold it in bulk to this bottler?
0 to Nothing.
I think more high end wines should be sold in boxes/cans.
We all eat with our eyes – so yes id say the packaging matters a lot
Screw caps were hated until people realized they made sense in many cases (whites in my country are almost 100% screw cap and it’s a fairly prominent wine country)
I don’t see why not because you just need a suitable vessel to be airtight.
Wine bottle glass is more recyclable than any plastic and probably that is plasticized paper so I don’t think it’s really recyclable, and definitely neither is the cap, which would make it a no go for me. So unless I was proved otherwise I wouldn’t buy this.