In response to Tyler "Dr. Vino" Colman's essay on boxed wine, Joseph J. Cattaneo says: Without a doubt, glass bottles are greener than wine boxes.Calculating a carbon footprint based solely on trucking capacity is myopic and fails to consider the carbon costs for extraction and manufacturing.Just envision the various elements that have to go into creating a wine box. It involves many more steps, materials and energy inputs than are required for making a glass bottle.As for recycling, most communities can handle glass, which is 100 percent recyclable. Good luck finding programs that handle wine boxes.The choice is clear: glass is greener. Setting aside the biases of the messenger (Cattaneo is from the Glass Packaging Institute), does this message ring...
Continue reading »
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...
Continue reading »
The New York Times reports that some fine government-approved Italian wine will, for the first time, be sold in boxes instead of bottles. Italy’s Agriculture Ministry is now offering its D.O.C. designation, which verifies the product’s origin, for some boxed wines. Worry not—the more rarefied D.O.C.G. seal is still reserved for bottles. Boxed wine has been around for several decades and over the years has gotten better and earned more respect. According to a related article in the New York Times, opening up a nice box with dinner is a bit more embraced in Australia and in Europe than on our own shores. Still, wine from a cardboard spout hasn't been able to shake its cheap and crappy stigma. Might...
Continue reading »
I spoke to Josh Wesson, grapehead supreme and founder of Best Cellars, about the Three Thieves Bandit Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc he carries in juice boxes (Tetra Paks). I figured if the real wine snobs are crazed about screw caps they must be more than a little annoyed about the juice boxes. But Wesson, ever the democratizing force in the wine business, loves them. "The boxes are completely inert (same innards as milk containers), so there's no reaction with the juice inside," Wesson says. "It's also airtight (until the seal is lifted or broken), so no oxidation is possible. I like them because they're lightweight and less fragile than half or quarter glass bottles. They also chill quickly—as the...
Continue reading »
