I think I remember someone on here being a big fan of box wine. Zoom-zoom maybe? Has anyone tried the "Black Box" brand wines? At $22 for a 3 liter box it is $5.50 a bottle (!!!) Connoisseur-wise, I would probably not be able to tell it from a $10 or $12 bottle. Makes for a decent everyday or table wine (in the European tradition of course). So far I have tried the cab and the merlot. My wife is a big fan of Lindenmans Bin 65 Chardonnnay, which is only pennies more, and comes in glass, so I have not tried the chard.

I'm fully supportive of Boxed wine... as long as the box contains 12 bottles. I'm not a big fan of the box.... I can live with the tetra packaged wine... but how do you lay a bottle tetra pack down in the cellar..... I am a self admitted wine snob. ....... but pour the boxed stuff in a glass and hand it to me and I bet I wouldn't even know the difference. JR

I recently read an article about new wine packaging. To save money, vinteners are turning to "juice-box" type packaging. It's much lighter weight than glass and less prone to breakage (duh). The lighter weight contributes to lower fuel costs, saving tons of $$. Apparently, it's become more common in Australia and is beginning to catch on in Europe, though mainly with smaller vinteners. I wonder if they come with bendy straws? And a thing about the cork. I noticed in the past few years some brands using synthetic corks. I first ever saw it in Australia about 4 years ago. I personally prefer them because I am a wine idiot and can never open a bottle without destoying the cork. In Europe it is unlikley that anyone would be for the use of the synthetics since so much cork comes from here. Portugal is the world's largest cork producer, with Spain and Greece behind the Portuguese. I have had teh opportunity to see how it's harvested. They "peel" the bark off of some type of tree and place these sheets of cork onto large flatbed trucks. First time we saw a truck like this going down the road we couldn't figure out what was in there. When driving through a national forest we saw people harvesting the bark. The tree look soooo weird with the bark removed. Naked. Just thought I'd share.

My $0.02 on box wine is that it makes a lot of sense if you don't tend to finish the bottle in one sitting. Oxygen will interact with beer or wine and make it stale. With a box, this doesn't happen, at least not for a long time (the oxygen will get through the plastic eventually). But I'm not a wine snob. I am, however, a bit of a beer snob.

Ooh, I'll have to try those new brands of box wine - Black Box? - thanks! Last time I tried one, years ago, it was barely ok, although good enough if you've already had your first glass. If you *really* want to go cheap, I've played around with making wine, but the kits keep resulting in ick. Fresh fruit seems to work better, and is even cheaper than the kit per bottle. I think it's about $25 worth of fruit (I like pears), sugar, yeast and a few other things for 30 bottles of wine. Arla