Boxed wine usually comes in the scoffable Franzia or Gallo forms, but the quality may improve and shed its tacky taboo. In lieu of heavy glass bottles, the lighter packaging (oftentimes nicknamed the "bladder pack") is more environmentally and economically friendly. According to Tyler "Dr. Vino" Colman in a New York Times op-ed piece yesterday: a standard wine bottle (holding 750 milliliters) that travels from a California vineyard to a New York store generates about 5.2 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions, while a three-liter box generates only half the emissions per 750 milliliters.

Perks of boxed wine: the box is good for table wines that don’t need to age (which includes all but a handful of top global wines); saving leftovers is much easier (a box preserves wine for about four weeks compared to a bottle: just a day or two); and long term, the box is better for the American economy.

America will soon become the largest wine market in the world (in recent years we overtook Italy and France is next), but more than 90 percent of domestic production occurs on the West Coast, while the majority of consumers live east of the Mississippi. That's a lot of truck rides across country, so American vintners better start embracing the global trend—one that really doesn't bode well for the corkscrew industry.

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