MANTECA, Calif. – Cork-sniffers beware: A new crop of vintners is joining the cubist movement, selling their wine in a box.
Boxed wines have been popular for decades and account for up to 20 percent of wine sales by volume, according to industry officials. What’s different this time is that wines which have won good ratings and competition medals are being released in boxes, and the boxed-wine genre has been given a name upgrade, to “cask wines.”
Wine in a box is most often wine in a bag in a box. The wine is sealed inside a plastic bladder with an attached tap that lets the wine out but doesn’t let air in.
“Once people taste wine out of a bag that’s high-quality, they’re hooked. They love it,” said Chris Indelicato, chief financial officer of Manteca-based Delicato Family Vineyards. Delicato is putting award-winning wines in boxes, including its shiraz, which was rated a very respectable 90 points by Wine Enthusiast.
The trend comes at a time when wine industry officials, facing a world oversupply, have been looking for ways to make wine more accessible and convenient for consumers. They’ve tried screw caps, smaller bottles and even aluminum cans, said John Gillespie of the Wine Market Council in St. Helena, Calif.
“I think we’re just in this early period of a revolution in wine packaging in the U.S., where we’re gong to see a lot more innovation,” he said. “Globally, there has been rather more wine on the market than there has been demand. That kind of market situation often brings out the best in marketers.”
Associated Press
Shiraz wine is poured into a glass at the Delicato Family Vineyards tasting room in Manteca, Calif.
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