Dr Vino's wine blog

Patrick Cappiello, voted the superhottest somm of 2014 and shaping up to be a finalist for 2015, tasted some box wine on camera. As you might imagine, there is lots of gagging and spitting (one named Vella Burgundy scores an F with notes of raisin and vinegar as well as “Louis Jadot must be rolling over in his grave”). Bandit Merlot gets lots of praise from him and merits a B+ score–as does Bota Box.

While it makes for a good segment, I wish that P. Cap had used his place of power and influence to praise the format itself. For a lot of people, a 3L box is an affordable way to squeeze off a fresh glass for many nights in a row. It’s also greener, with a lot lower carbon footprint. But I’ve said all this before…What needs to be said again is that the industry needs to put better wine in the box. And there are a few producers and importers are are doing just that. Cappiello posts photos of Miller High Life to Instagram as well as bottle shots of Mugnier and Coche Dury. So is no stranger to lowbrow (as well as highbrow, natch). By highlighting a few more of the good box wines out there and praising the packaging format, people like Cappiello can help remove the stigma of the box, which would be more informative than just LOLing about how bad box wine is for the millionth time. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still a funny video and worth a click.

You may think you’ve seen it all, but get a load of this: box wine in the shape of a lady’s handbag.

While they innovators may be on the right track, their genteel Upper East Side/16e arrondissement styling is probably the wrong statement for those who want to haul 1.5 liters of Chardonnay/Vinognier around.

Probably better to collaborate with Camelback!

Will Q design a man’s briefcase version for 007?

No More Shame: Boxed Wine Now Comes In A High-End Fashion Purse [NPR Salt blog]