WINE INDUSTRY Nontraditional packing gets new attention

Wine in a box lasts more than a month after being opened.
MANTECA, Calif. (AP) -- Cork-sniffers beware: A new crop of vintners is joining the cubist movement, selling their wine in a box.
Boxed wines have been popular for decades and account for between 15 percent and 20 percent of wine sales by volume, according to industry officials. What's different this time is that wines that have won good ratings and competition medals are being released in boxes; they've also given the boxed-wine genre a name upgrade to "cask wines."
Wine in a box is most often wine in a bag in a box. The wine is sealed inside a plastic bladder with an attached tap that lets the wine out and but doesn't let air -- wine's nemesis -- inside.
Consumer convenience
"Once people taste wine out of a bag that's high quality, they're hooked. They love it," said Chris Indelicato, CEO of Manteca-based Delicato Family Vineyards. Delicato is putting award-winning wines in boxes, including its shiraz, which was rated a very respectable 90 points by Wine Enthusiast.
The trend comes at a time when wine industry officials, facing a world oversupply, have been looking for ways to make wine more accessible and convenient for consumers, turning to screwcaps, smaller bottles and even aluminum cans, said John Gillespie of the Wine Market Council in St. Helena.
"I think we're just in this early period of a revolution in wine packaging in the U.S. where we're going to see a lot more innovation," he said. "Globally, there has been rather more wine on the market than there has been demand. That kind of a market situation often brings out the best in marketers."
The bag used in U.S. boxed wines, including Delicato, was invented as a package for battery acid in the 1950s, but caught on in Australia as a way to sell wine. In the last few years, the bag's been improved, and the tap has also been designed to function better, said Roberta Morris, director of global market development for the Chicago-based manufacturer Scholle.
Producer benefits
Boxes stack up better than bottles because they're easier to carry, cheaper to produce, recyclable and more compact. Wine in a box will last more than a month after opening compared to mere days for a bottle, which is a plus for people who like to drink just the occasional glass.
Still, it may not be easy to wean some wine drinkers off the bottle.
"People are very suspicious because of the history of boxed wines in America. They're not sure what's in there," said Wilfred Wong, who is cellarmaster for the Beverages & amp; more chain and a fan of the new boxed wines. "My hope is that they really take off because it just makes sense for the consumer."
The new boxed wines are being sold in smaller packages than traditional boxed wines such as Franzia, 3 liters versus 5 liters, and are more expensive, generally selling for somewhere between $15 and $24 as opposed to $10 and under. Even at the high end, boxed wines aren't too pricey because 3 liters is the equivalent of four regular bottles.
Among the 3-liter entrants is Walnut Creek-based Black Box Wines, recognizable by its distinctive black and gold packaging. The wines include a cabernet sauvignon that won a gold medal at the 2004 Orange County Fair Wine Competition.
Vintner Ryan Sproule said he founded Black Box in early 2003 after enjoying premium boxed products in Europe and Australia. "Just because it's in a box doesn't mean it's bad. Just because wine's in a bottle doesn't mean it's good," he said.