Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The Octavin dispensing wine packaging keeps its wine fresh for 6 weeks after opening. Nothing compares. Seriously.
Octavin packaged wines come in a patented multilayer airtight 3 liter bag inside an 8 sided carton, designed to fit in little more space than a champagne bottle, but which holds the equivalent of 4 standard wine bottles. It's a quantum leap over the old "wine in a box" packages, which, combined with low quality wine selections, turned many American consumers off to boxed wines in years past. But this is a whole 'nother animal.
The unique Octavin packaging is combined with a curatorial passion the inventor has for good wine, so the only wines that get approved to used the packaging have already passed a level of muster above the level of the average supermarket selection. I've tasted many of the Octavin selections and never had a bad one.
For someone who wants to buy a nice wine at a reasonable price, and drink a glass a day, it's pretty much the perfect solution to buy wine in this packaging.
The oak releases phenols, esters and other chemicals which impart flavors and aromas similar to cherry, plum, etc. It also may help the wine develop flavors that have nothing to do with the wood it's aged in. Examples: tempranillo has a tendency to have leather aromas and flavors, but leather is not used in the vinting of the wine. Pinot noir can have a mushroom or barnyard nose... I hope no barnyards are used in the making of a great Russian River pinot. Other reds exhibit cigar box, tobacco, dark berries, chocolate, coffee, and other notes, both on the nose and in the taste, but those elements are not used unless they're added flavorings. A malo-lactic chardonnay has a lot of buttery notes from the diacetyl produced by the fermentation, but no butter is used. And then there are the wines such as sauvignon blanc or viognier or unoaked chardonnay, fermented in stainless steel, with their tropical notes.
Muscadine, an American grape, often has the nose that is reminiscent of NASCAR or drag races, sort of a burnt rubber and gasoline aroma, which is just part of the grape's character; have a bottle of Mount Bethel (AR) red at home. The previous poster would hopefully approve.
I asked my sister about this... she is an assistant winemaker in California. (I get a lot of free wine as a result.) She doesn't know of any wines that use anything other than oak, whether as a free-standing barrel or as chips to impart flavor during the fermentation and resting. She said it doesn't mean they don't use other woods (retsina, a Greek wine, has a lot of pine in it... an acquired taste) but she doesn't know anyone mainstream who uses anything else.
Out of curiosity, I looked up something and came up with this, an article about the differences in oaks (French, American, Hungarian, etc).
Interesting and informative post but that muscadine stuff sounds horrendous...as described by you anyway. Pretty sure I'd rather be hit by a deadly NASCAR-related projectile (like, say, a tire that found its way into the stands) than to have to consume a wine that smells like NASCAR
Good idea. I wonder which one is good and the healthiest?
I think they are pretty much all good. I've had the Fisheye Shiraz, the Big House Red and Cabernet and Pinot Noir and found them all quite drinkable. And because of the economies of the packaging the cost is less than half of what the same quality of wine would sell for in bottles.
I think the main thing to do right now is to find a wine you like. The health benefits will be similar. Later, if you find the habit of drinking a glass of red wine a day to be agreeable to you, you can try other things. But for now, this would give you a decent quality wine at about $1 a glass*, with no concerns about spoilage.
*If I have my math right.
I'm figuring that the 3 liter Octavin reds sell at about $20 with tax, and 3 liters is the same as 4 - 750ml bottles, each of which is about 5 glasses, so 20 glasses at $20 = $1 a glass.
PS, there are several other smaller box wines on the market now, like the Black Box series, but they don't seem to keep as well as the patented Octavin dispenser. That's why I suggested Octavin for someone who is going to take about 3 weeks to go through 3 liters.
Interesting and informative post but that muscadine stuff sounds horrendous...as described by you anyway. Pretty sure I'd rather be hit by a deadly NASCAR-related projectile (like, say, a tire that found its way into the stands) than to have to consume a wine that smells like NASCAR
The first time I had a muscadine it was in Arkansas over ten years ago. It was sugary-sweet and had that nose that is something like a cross between burning jet fuel and rubber. Intriguing but not what I wanted to smell. Since then I have re-tried some drier muscadines, and they have that unique aroma that is often described as "foxy", not as in the animal, but the fox grape. A uniquely American wine, they can be quite excellent, as long as the sugar is not turned way up on them.
A previous post mentioned health benefits... pinot noir, my favorite red, is said to have the highest level of resveratrol among vinifera varietals, with proven benefits. But for even more health benefits, muscadine has, according to some studies, as much as ten times as much resveratrol and other antioxidants as pinot noir. Generally, but not always, it has less alcohol, too.
Also, while a chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon MUST be served in a nice glass, according to Wine Spectator it must be from Riedel, appropriate for the type of wine, muscadine can be served in a red Solo cup.
Even though she works at a California winery with access to some excellent vintages, my sister also likes a good box wine, since opening a red is essentially starting a countdown timer. She keeps a pinot grigio from Bota in her fridge, and has a wine cellar (lucky girl!) in which she has a boxed cab or old vine zin always available.
I just saw this review this morning, of the Vacu-Vin and several other "wine preservation" methods for bottled wines. Their results pretty much matched my own experience, that Vacu-Vin is an inexpensive system that works well for a day or two.
I think they are pretty much all good. I've had the Fisheye Shiraz, the Big House Red and Cabernet and Pinot Noir and found them all quite drinkable. And because of the economies of the packaging the cost is less than half of what the same quality of wine would sell for in bottles.
I think the main thing to do right now is to find a wine you like. The health benefits will be similar. Later, if you find the habit of drinking a glass of red wine a day to be agreeable to you, you can try other things. But for now, this would give you a decent quality wine at about $1 a glass*, with no concerns about spoilage.
*If I have my math right.
I'm figuring that the 3 liter Octavin reds sell at about $20 with tax, and 3 liters is the same as 4 - 750ml bottles, each of which is about 5 glasses, so 20 glasses at $20 = $1 a glass.
PS, there are several other smaller box wines on the market now, like the Black Box series, but they don't seem to keep as well as the patented Octavin dispenser. That's why I suggested Octavin for someone who is going to take about 3 weeks to go through 3 liters.
Great idea. And it might be more than 3 weeks for 3 liters.
Looks like the question is between Bota and Octavian. And for only $20 it's not at all expensive to try out.
I'm glad someone suggested one of the wine preserver items (the ones that suck the oxygen out of the bottle). My hubby got me one for Xmas and I love it! Of course, I thought he was crazy when I opened it...but it does work very well.
I'm glad someone suggested one of the wine preserver items (the ones that suck the oxygen out of the bottle). My hubby got me one for Xmas and I love it! Of course, I thought he was crazy when I opened it...but it does work very well.
Actually it does almost nothing. Studies show that it may preserve for extra day or two, but really it does not remove enough atmosphere to provide a true vacuum which would be necessary to make a significant difference.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.