Just before lockdown kicked in, my wife and I decided to leave Lisbon and isolate with my parents in the Alentejo. A low population density, a nice big garden, and we could keep them away from the supermarkets if we did all the shopping. Plus there was nobody coughing on the Metro there. Predictably though, the crate of empty wine bottles in the garage awaiting recycling filled up rather quickly with four of us in the house.
The supermarkets often had long queues to get in, and by the time we had put enough red, white, pink and Port in the trolley to get us through the week there was little room for essentials (especially if a jumbo pack of loo roll had already gone in too).
Time for a change in strategy then. Bag in box wines, of course!
Traditionally these have suffered the stigma of being considered inferior to bottled wines. But this is no longer the case; for some time many producers have made a point of also bottling the same wine conventionally to emphasise that by no means are their boxes of lesser quality than their bottles. In fact, the alternative packaging is in many ways superior.
The first thing to note is that BiB wines are indeed usually entry-level, everyday wines. But then, honestly, most of the wine that most people drink is probably best described as everyday wine anyway. And entry-level does not mean bad. Good growing conditions and low production costs in the Alentejo (especially) mean that there are some excellent wines available at less than € 3 per bottle (or per litre).
Comendinha tinto from Comenda Grande, 14%, 11€ for 5L. Stunningly rich and luscious blend of Trincadeira and Aragonês. A pure expression of essence of Alentejo terroir, boxed, at an unbelievable price.
If you know your smaller producers, you can often find BiB wines that are far too good NOT to have been bottled and laid down. But storage capacity (especially as the next vintage approaches and the tanks are going to be needed again soon) and cash-flow difficulties mean that you can often find wines close to 'premium' standard in relatively cheap boxes.
The advantages don't stop there. BiB packaging consists of nothing more than a airtight plastic bag with a tap, packed inside a cardboard box. No glass bottle, no cork, no capsule, no front and back labels and no need for wooden or cardboard cases. It is far cheaper to produce, totally recyclable, and because the boxes can be stacked directly onto a pallet there is no wasted space when shipping. This also makes it far lighter and cheaper to transport, with a much reduced carbon footprint.
The environmental implications of wine packaging are not just about efficient transport. The industrial furnaces which produce glass bottles are incredibly energy intensive - so much so that 40% of the entire carbon footprint of a bottle of wine is accounted for by the bottle itself.
The packaging, deconstructed. I had to finish the wine first…
It also means less waste. It can't break, and there is zero chance of cork taint (which is now fortunately becoming very rare in any case). It protects the wine from the damaging effects light, and because the bag collapses as wine is taken out there is no oxidation either (unlike with an open bottle). In fact, it preserves the wine better in the short term than glass does.
Supermarket own-brand BiBs can be a real bargain as they have been selected from dozens or more rival bidders, and are usually produced by large companies with a vast experience in maintaining wine quality, consistency and flavour profile for huge volumes blended over several batches, year after year.
This is especially true in the UK, which is a nation of very demanding wine lovers but not a significant wine producer - meaning that virtually all wine is imported. Negligible differences in shipping costs (whether by sea or by road) mean that importing wine from almost anywhere in the world actually costs about the same, and the playing field is levelled further by high duties. This means that hundreds or even thousands of producers across the planet are all competing on equal terms as they tender to supply, say, Tesco's Cheap and Cheerful Red Winebox.
All of these candidates are tasted and assessed by highly trained wine buyers (often including Masters of Wine) and only the very best is granted the supply contract. And no money is spent on branding, marketing, PR or advertising which further keeps the price down. (Have you ever wondered how much a television advertisement must add to the price of a bottle? I'd much rather they spent that money on the grapes...) So, in short, own-brand winebox is absolutely the best wine in the world that can be bought at that price.
Such intense competition between producers means that the customer gets a very good deal indeed; the wine suppliers of such ranges make a margin that is usually somewhere between minuscule and zero - or sometimes even less than that. UK supermarket shelf space is in such demand that a company I once worked for, in order to secure a listing for its more expensive wines, sold its cheapest to them at less than cost price. The loss leader is very much still with us.
And don't forget - when you see a wine on special offer in the supermarket then it is the producer who has reduced the price, not the store. The supermarket always gets its full mark-up.
Bad news for the winemaker, good news for you. Perhaps it's time to give bag in box a chance.