Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Bordeaux to Go? Wine Through a Straw and Other Mysteries

After posting yesterday on dry white Bordeaux, I had to let you know that the single-serving wine juice box has hit France.

The French, who are miles ahead of us when it comes to using alternative packaging, are now putting Bordeaux in those little single-serving packs (with straw) that have yet to capture the popular imagination in the US. Decanter magazine reports that negociant Cordier Mestrezat is testing the market for Tandem Wine Bordeaux in a box in Belgium, where an individual pack will sell for about 1.25 euros (your guess is as good as mine what exactly this is in dollars, but it is under $2)

What I want more information on, however, is the straw. They've put four holes in the bit of the straw that goes into your mouth and sealed the top that normally is the outlet for liquid. Supposedly, this special straw directs four separate streams of wine into the mouth, duplicating as closely as possible the mouth-filling effect of taking a sip of wine from a glass. Hmmm. Does that sound like how you drink wine?

Ray Isle from the blog Tasting Room over at Food and Wine Magazine was asked to be on CNN to discuss Cordier's move to the juice box. Too bad they didn't get him one of those magic straws so he could test the technology out for us! Dare we hope someone has actually tried this wonder? I have to say sipping wine through a normal straw was one of the major problems with the Three Thieves Bandit Pinot Grigio I had for WBW #31.

But really, I just have to wonder if this is ever going to catch on. Somehow, I doubt it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw at Whole Foods that they sell wine in eco-friendly (supposedly...) cardboard/juice-box-ish containers, but in a 1L size approximately.

I didn't pay close enough attention to see whether the wine was French or otherwise. While in France, I saw lots of wine at supermarkets in large plastic bottles (what we would buy water in here).

With all the stories these days about plastics leeching out hormones and other chemicals into our food, I think I'll stick with glass bottles.

Orion Slayer said...

I had a Zinfandel this weekend that was in a 500ml "juice box." I was surprised that the wine wasn't half bad! There was no straw though. I should have noted the wine maker. My dad bought it at a 99cent store!

MonkuWino said...

Part of the experience of drinking wine is to enjoy the aromas. This wine in a box with a straw sounds like it is meant to be portable so you can drink on the go, like when you're driving your car? Haha, I guess I'll just have to stick the straw in my nose first, and then take a sip. Seriously, I wouldn't buy that product - it's not how I would want to experience drinking/tasting a wine.

Sonadora said...

I have trouble with the concept of drinking through a straw. I recall hearing somewhere that drinking alcohol through a straw gets you drunk faster? Or maybe that was an urban legend. Regardless, I'll take my bottle. A juice box wouldn't fit in my wine racks ;)

Dr. Debs said...

Hi everybody. Jill, I had the Three Thieves single serve pinot )with straw) and it wasn't bad. There also seems to be some concern about the aluminum used in the wine boxes--there is a layer of plastic between the aluminum and the wine but there is still some anxiety about the metal tainting the wine at least in Europe. Monkuwino--don't stick the straw up your nose. And Sonadora, maybe that does happen--something about the air, on the idea that if you take medicine with carbonated drinks they enter the bloodstream faster? I'm with you on the wine rack issue. Not nearly so nice with a box!

Anonymous said...

i think this will catch on, actually, but in europe, not here where people are constantly afraid of embarrassing themselves around wine. maybe it would catch on here with kids - you know how toddlers and kids all the way through elementary school love juiceboxes?

Dr. Debs said...

Hi, Neil! Well, hopefully moms and dad won't mix the apple juice box and the wine juice box too early in life, but yes, maybe this will catch on in 15 years when the six year olds start buying their own wine!