Is Wine-in-a-Box the Superior Packaging for Wine?

Like screw-cap wine, wine in a box can evoke the taste of watered-down characterless cheap wine. That stigma has been changed recently with the advent of 3-liter box wines. While Franzia has been selling budget 5-liter box wine for much longer, the market for quality 3-liter wine boxes or "wine casks" has been growing; a 3-liter box is equivalent to four 750-milliliter bottles of wine. The economical packaging cuts down on shipping and packaging costs, letting the consumer purchase quality wine at a much lower price. The box is big overseas, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer over half of all wine purchased in Australia is in a box and over 60 percent of wine drank in Sweden is from a box.

The packaging is also convenient on the go, there is no fear of bottle breakage with a cardboard box and it weighs considerably less than it's bottled counterpart. Easy transportability means that you can be drinking Pinot Noir at the next outdoor musical event you go to, Cabernet Sauvignon while boating, camping or hiking. The bag can be taken out of the box and quickly chilled on a bed of ice when you don't have access to a refrigerator.

For those of you who think it would be gauche or even déclassé to serve premium box wine at your next dinner party, you can serve the wine in a classy decanter. Not only will this look nice to your guests, it will let the wine "breathe" and enhance its flavor and aroma, typically only red wines will benefit from this. If you just remove the cork off a bottle, it will not expose as much air as if the wine were in a decanter, this has to do with the amount of surface area at the top of the bottle; it's not enough.