Filed under: food, go green, lifestyle | Tags: austin chronicle, Bota Box, box of wine, wine
I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Three posts in one weekend? Unheard of…
This time I’ve been inspired to write about my latest foray in the wine world: wine from a cardboard box. I know what you’re thinking: “I tried Franzia when I was 17 and I will never ever revisit that experience again”. That’s what I thought too. So it was with a bit of reluctance (and a few nauseous flashbacks from the 90′s), that I hefted a Bota Box into my shopping cart today at H.E.B.
Gold Medal worthy, IMO.
I’d been considering the option since I’d spied Wine Cubes and other box of wine products gracing the counters of friend’s kitchens. If they’ve taken the plunge with success, I figured I could try it too. At $15 a box, it wasn’t a huge risk. I was thrilled to see that 1 Bota Box was the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine. My mind instantly geared up into carbon footprint counting mode. I recycle all of my glass bottles curbside (about 2 a week on average). At my current consumption rate I was looking at 104 glass bottles headed to recycling each year! The Bota Box is made of recycled cardboard, and can be recycled itself. Switching to boxes would reduce my waste to just 26 recycleable boxes a year!
As a brand, Bota has made a commitment to green packaging, which was another bonus with my purchase. Not to mention the financial benefits – I usually spend about $10 on a bottle of wine. That’s just over $1,000 a year (yikes!). A years worth of Bota would be just shy of $400! Suddenly the Box of Wine wasn’t looking so bad afterall…
Still not sold? You’re worried about the quality, right? I know that Franzia left you with a bitter taste in your mouth (and perhaps some vomit stains on a parent’s rug). But this stuff is GOOD, no kidding! I’m on my second glass right now! Again – no kidding! I came across a great article in the Austin Chronicle from last fall. A few local wine celebs were gathered to blindly rate boxes of wines in all colors & varieties. Their rating system went like this (paraphrased from the article);
Gold = a wine that we would happily buy and keep around the house for personal consumption.
Silver = we’d buy it for parties, cooking, and infrequent drinking.
Bronze = we would happily drink it for free at someone else’s party.
No medal meant we wouldn’t even swallow the stuff; we’d spit it out.
Only 8 of the 50 wines they tasted achieved “No Medal” status. Not bad! I encourage you to check the article out for yourself, to help determine what your next choice will be from the box of wine world.
*sidenote: Devon Broglie, sommelier for Whole Foods downtown, was a juror on the panel and taught a wine-tasting class that a co-worker and I took this spring. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with him, do it! It was the most entertaining and educational 2 hours I’ve had in recent memory.
**sidenote2: Bota Box does not appear in the article’s list (I think it came out after the review). However, Bota is an offshoot company of Delicato Vineyards, which does show up in the top of the list.
