Aussies love Goon. The readily available wine poured from a box. In fact, we invented it. The box is convenient, cost effective, sustainable, indestructible, and protects wine from oxygen giving you 40 days to drink it once opened. The problem is, Australian’s knowledge of, and love for fine wine has evolved, but boxed-wine offerings have not.
Is wine better from a bottle?
Unless you’re planning to cellar it longer than a year it’s a resounding ‘no’. So why do we put up with a heavy, fragile, inflexible packaging that only knows how to deliver 5 glasses over two days? Simply because over the years wine producers have pandered to the idea that fine wine looks more expensive in glass.
Introducing Bottle anxiety
The hesitancy to open a bottle knowing you need to drink the whole lot quickly, else waste it down the sink. We’ve become so accustomed to the bottle that we rarely recognise how much it’s shaped our wine drinking habits. We’re forced to abstain when we don’t have a similarly inclined wine-loving partner, or friends around to help us with the bottle. Or, we commit, telling ourselves that we can drink two glasses today, and another two tomorrow. It is of course, a lie, felt most acutely when standing by the sink watching an excellent red swirl down the plughole.
I’m a grown adult. These days I only want two things from wine. To have a single glass when the mood strikes, and for it to be a bloody good glass.
Enter UnBottled Wines
It’s hard to know why it’s taken this long, but UnBottled have succeeded in convincing acclaimed 5-star Aussie winemakers to let them package fine wines in two-litre Boxes. Each season they find a new region to showcase and secure 4 varietals to appeal to all wine lovers.
“If seriously good wine goes in the box, then seriously good wine comes out. So we’re putting … (5 Star Winery) wines into our boxes,” Ann Marie, an advanced qualified sommelier said.
“Australian’s love the idea of drinking great wine at home, but often don’t know where to start, so we’re making it easy for them, by curating a small quarterly selection of limited release boxed wines”
Their Winter Release features wines from McLaren Vale’s Brash Higgins and are wines selected to pair particularly well with winter fare like winter stews and roasts.
“This may be the most expensive wine ever boxed; but it’s ready to enjoy today – and we believe there are others out there like us who want to do better for the environment and enjoy a great glass of wine’.
At $85 a 2L box (equal to around $31/bottle), it’s at the higher end for many, but 25% cheaper than the same wine in the bottle bottle. UnBottled are betting that those who know and enjoy really good wine will be willing to trade off the bottle for the benefits of the box; ridding themselves of bottle anxiety for good.
For more on UnBottled Wines, please click here.
Image credit: Ben Brown