When was boxed wine invented?
Boxed wine, originally known as “cask wine,” was invented in 1964 by Thomas Angove, a winemaker from Renmark, South Australia. Angove’s design required consumers to cut a corner off the wine-filled bag, pour a serving, and reseal it with a special peg. This idea was inspired by a product used by mechanics—a bag-in-box used to store battery acid.
In 1967, Australian inventor Charles Malpas, in collaboration with Penfolds Wines, patented a more convenient solution: a plastic, air-tight tap welded to a metallised bladder. This innovation allowed for easier storage and dispensing, with modern wine casks featuring plastic taps accessible through a perforated panel on the box.
Is boxed wine more environmentally friendly than bottled wine?
Yes. In 2010, Scandinavian state institutions Systembolaget and Vinmonopolet conducted a study on the environmental impact of different forms of wine packaging. They found that bag-in-box packaging leaves only 12% to 29% of the carbon footprint associated with bottled wine and outperformed glass bottles in every other ecological measure.
Why is boxed wine more environmentally friendly than bottled wine?
High temperatures and the energy required to produce glass significantly increase the carbon footprint of bottled wine. Moreover, the United Nations recently released a report regarding a global sand shortage, which is one of the precursors to producing glass. Then, when wine is transported in glass bottles, only half of the weight of the cargo is actually wine, and packaging bottles in a case leads to plenty of wasted space. Meanwhile the weight of boxed wine is 95% wine, and the boxes stack up efficiently. This results in far heavier loads than necessary when transporting bottled wine to distributors and consumers, causing unnecessary increases in emissions when compared to their boxed counterpart.
Can I age my boxed wine?
No. Boxed wine cannot be aged. This is because the primary material for the bag holding the wine is polyethylene, a plastic that is both safe and commonly used. It is microporous and allows oxygen to slowly seep in over time. As the oxygen infiltrates the bag, the wine will begin to oxidise, which will result in the wine “going off”. For this reason, boxed wine has a shelf life (while sealed) of a few months. We recommend that you enjoy your boxed wine within 2 months for the best experience.
How long does boxed wine last once opened?
Once opened, boxed wine can last significantly longer than its bottled counterparts. This is because wine can be poured from a bag-in-box with zero oxygen entering the vessel (a concept referred to as airless flow). Oxidation is the main cause of wine going “off”, and airless flow allows boxed wine to avoid this problem almost entirely.
For this reason, boxed wine can last up to 6 weeks once opened, whereas bottled wine tends to last a maximum of one week even when refrigerated.
Should I refrigerate my boxed wine?
Refrigerating boxed wine will improve the longevity of the wine as well as make it more palatable for most people. Having said this, it is absolutely not necessary to refrigerate boxed wine. Bag-in-box technology allows our wines to last for up to 6 weeks once opened outside of the fridge and we encourage everyone to enjoy our wines however you please, whether that be chilled or at room temperature.
Is boxed wine lower quality than bottled wine?
No. The quality of boxed wines has drastically increased, and now many premium wines are being boxed. In fact a lot of bottled wine started out in a box, and was only packaged into bottles afterwards! Nowadays, the quality of boxed and bottled wine is very much comparable.
How many bottles in one box of wine?
The typical box of wine contains 2.25L of wine, which is the equivalent to three bottles. However, at Torri Cantine, our boxed wine comes in two sizes: 3L and 5L, with our 5L box holding almost 7 bottles worth of wine.
Why is boxed wine better value than bottled wine?
The main reason that the same wine will be cheaper in a box than in a bottle is because it costs winemakers much more to package wine into bottles than it does for them to package wine into boxes. Glass has become very expensive in recent times, and this has led to many winemakers considering bag-in-box packaging. The savings in packaging costs are then passed on to the consumer, allowing people to experience the same wines for a fraction of the cost. Another important reason is that boxes are just bigger than bottles, and there will always be a discount for buying larger quantities in bulk.
Why is boxed wine more consistent than bottled wine?
As hard as we winemakers try, when creating an organic product such as wine there is always the risk of flaws. The most common wine flaw is cork taint. Cork taint occurs when faulty sanitation, storage, or packaging causes the cork in a wine bottle to produce musty odours which is then picked up by the wine in the bottle, leading to a very unpleasant experience. But, thanks to the fact that boxed wine does not use any corks, this problem is pretty much non-existent.
Another common flaw in bottled wine is called light strike. As the name suggests, this flaw occurs when light strikes a bottle of wine for an extended period of time. If left in the light for too long, bottled wine can eventually start tasting of cooked cabbage, wet wool, or even sewage. However, given boxed wine’s opaque packaging, it is unaffected by light strike. Wine lovers have long debated the merits of boxed wine versus the traditional bottled variety. For most, the image of bottled wine is synonymous with quality, tradition, and a sense of occasion. However, boxed wine, once relegated to the bottom shelf and associated with low quality, has undergone a renaissance in recent years. With advanced improvements in production, packaging, and transportation, boxed wine is now a viable—and sometimes more suitable—option depending on the situation. Here’s when and why boxed wine might just be better than bottled wine.