Boxed wine - any tips? (recycling, plastic, buying, packaging)

[southdown]

I am thinking of converting to boxed wine as there is no glass recycling collection in my area and I cannot bear to put glass in the garbage. We drink 3-4 bottles of wine a week, so it's a lot of glass.

Boxed wine apparently uses less packaging and tranportation - the Australians and the French have embraced it, even the Italians do it - I think it's the way forward! Just a shame it isn't seen as upscale enough for most American producers.

Can you recommend any good brands that you have tasted? There isn't much choice available, and what I have seen doesn't look great from the packaging.

Thanks in advance!

BTW Any info on how to recycle the plastic bag inside would be appreciated.

[Tek_Freek]

Most of what we've tried is mediocre at best, but I seem to remember a brand named Franzia (sp?) that wasn't too bad.

They recycle glass here, but won't accept green or brown so we still have to toss the wine bottles. Sometime soon they are supposed to go over to a garbage-can auto-empty system like they do for garbage. I can see a lot of non-recyclables being tossed in there. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

[nessatar]

Are you familiar with freecycle? I see a lot of people offering wine bottles, and people will take them. I think some people use them for crafts.

[rubytue]

Black Box wines are pretty good: Black Box Wines - High-End Boxed Wine: Vintage Dated Bag-in-Box Wines

[poconoproud]

my husband enjoys Franzia White Zinfandel. Franzia also has a half-size box, so you aren't buying so much to try different ones & they are about $7 or $8 bucks.

[Tek_Freek]

Yeah, it was the white zin and chardonnay we drank. I liked the zin better, the chardonnay gave me acid indigestion.

[chow22sam]

Question: Since box wine consists of a plastic bag where air cannot get in it...does this mean it's vaccum sealed and it doesn't go bad? Or does it still go bad?

[southernnaturelover]

I drink both Vella and Franzia, it depends on which store I shop at. I usually go for the Merlot or Cabernet.

I tried Almaden once and didn't really care for it, but I think it was probably the type.

[riveree]

You know who makes decent boxed wine? Target .

Their boxed Sangria is really good, they have an Australian Shiraz that's good, they have all the types of wine you'd expect (I think they even have a Pinot Noir).

It comes in 2 sizes, so you can buy the smaller one to try it first ($10, and it's the equivalent of 2 bottles). They even sell their wine in to-go single serving boxes (sort of how Sophia Coppola's wine is, except hers are in aluminum cans).

The boxes are nicely designed too. They're a perfect cube shape so they fit in the fridge nice, or if you leave it on the counter, it's kind of pretty .

Originally Posted by chow22sam

Question: Since box wine consists of a plastic bag where air cannot get in it...does this mean it's vaccum sealed and it doesn't go bad? Or does it still go bad?

It does last a long time - in or out of the fridge. It lasts much longer than a bottle would. I guess that's why they can make some of those boxes so large.

[southdown]

I discovered it says on the box that the inner plastic bag can go in the recycling, so the whole package is recyclable...