Jenny & Francois drink inside the box!
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Faster than you could say “Holy carbon footprint, Batman!” two new box wines have arrived on our shores!
Naturalista wine importers Jenny and Francois win the prize for the first new box wine since my op-ed in the NYTimes last month! Actually, the red was around last vintage but the white is all new! Double your pleasure while reducing your carbon footprint.
Both the wines are from the Cotes du Rhone cooperative Estezargues, which Jenny & Francois claim is the only co-op in France to make “natural” wines (no commercial yeasts, no enzymes, no filtering, minimal sulfur before bottling).
The white, called “From the Tank” and packaged in unbleached cardboard, is actually a great value transitional white for fall (find this wine). This 2007 is aromatically complex, its big and rich, with typical low acidity, and dry. I was envisioning pairing it with a squash risotto. Although it is not a low-priced box wine at $40, it is, they write in their catalog, “exactly the same wine as what we bring in bottles,” which sell for about $14.50 each. Booyah! For all the Wine Century Club members out there, its 70% Grenache Blanc, 20% Clairette + Bourboulenc, and 10% Viognier.
The red, a big blend of grenache, syrah and carignan, has that ripe, juicy quality from many of the wines of the region. The wine lacked the precision and structure of some their other Rhone reds but it is a solid offering to keep around for squeezing off a mid-week glass. It’s the same price as the white “From the Tank.” (find this wine)
I didn’t have time to taste through all their wines at their trade tasting last week, unfortunately. But I did like the Binner wines from Alsace, which I had not previously discovered (search for Binner). The pillowy pinot gris 2006 has no added sulfites; the 2006 gewurztraminer had a blast of white flowers and mango on the aroma and balanced tropical fruits on the palate.
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On September 18th, 2008 at 6:45 pm ,Sarah wrote:
Um, “From the Tank”?!?!
On September 19th, 2008 at 4:52 pm ,Dylan wrote:
This sounds exactly like the kind of boxed wine you were describing in your Op-Ed piece.
I’d like to see this statement, “exactly the same wine as what we bring in bottles,” put to the test.
I would be interested to see you take all the Dr.Vino readers who are strict bottle drinkers and do a blind taste test; use a pre-poured glass marked filled either with Jenny & Francois’ bottled or box wines.
Let’s see if the bottle makes the difference, once it’s in your glass.
On September 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Great point, Dylan. I’ll have to get one of each and do a blind taste test myself. It’s rare to find a wine that is bottled in both formats since it’s usually one or the other.
On November 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am ,guinevere wrote:
I bought a box of the red yesterday, after tasting it at my local retailer. I thought it was a terrific “house” wine, for drinking throughout the week. I love the box for keeping the wine sealed and air-free. The giy who sold it to me said it would last 6 weeks. We shall see. BTW, $32 for a 3L box.