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Boxed wine (cask wine) is a wine sold in "bag-in-box" packaging. Traditionally, this consists of a cardboard box containing a wine filled plastic reservoir. The flow of the wine from the box is controlled by a valve.
The process for packaging "cask wine" (boxed wine) was invented by Thomas Angove, a winemaker from Renmark, South Australia, and patented [1] by his company on April 20, 1964. [2] Polyethylene bladders of one gallon (4.5 litres) were placed in corrugated boxes for retail sale. The original design required that the consumer cut the corner off the bladder, pour out the serving of wine, and then reseal it with a special peg. [3] This design was based on a product already on the market, a bag in a box used by mechanics to hold and transport battery acid. [4]
In 1967, Australian inventor Charles Malpas and Penfolds Wines patented a plastic, air-tight tap welded to a metallised bladder, making storage more convenient. [5] Modern wine casks use plastic taps which can be exposed by tearing away a perforated panel on the box. For the following decades, 'bag in a box' packaging was primarily preferred by producers of less expensive wines, as they were cheaper to produce and distribute than glass flagons, which served a similar market.
In Australia, due to the difference in how wine is taxed compared to other alcoholic beverages, [6] [7] [8] boxed wine is often the least expensive form of drinkable alcohol. [9] A 4-litre cask of at least 9.5% alcohol can often be found for around A$10. [10] These attributes have led to boxed wine being widely available throughout Australia and holding a prominent place in Australian pop culture. [11] [12]
During the mid-1970s, the bag-in-box packaging concept expanded to other beverages, including spring waters, orange juices, and wine coolers.
In 2003, California Central Coast AVA based Black Box Wines introduced mass premium wines in a box. [13] Within the decade, premium wineries and bottlers began packaging their own high-quality boxed wine. [14] This, coupled with an increased cultural interest in environmentally sustainable packaging, has cultivated growing popularity with affluent wine consumers. [15]
Box wines utilize plastic bags instead of traditional glass bottles, significantly reducing production and shipping costs, which makes them a more affordable option for consumers.
Typical bag-in-box containers hold one and a half to four 750 ml bottles of wine per box, though they come in a wide variety of volumes. [16] Bag-in-box packaging is cheaper and lighter than glass-bottled wine.
The removal of wine from the flexible bag without adding air to fill the vacated space greatly reduces the oxidation of the wine during dispensing. Compared to bottled wine, which should be consumed within hours or days of opening, bag-in-box wine will not spoil for approximately 3–4 weeks after breaking the seal, or even longer if the wine is kept refrigerated after opening. In addition, it is not subject to cork taint. [17] Wine contained in plastic bladders is not intended for cellaring and should be consumed within the manufacturer's printed shelf life. Deterioration may be noticeable 12 months after filling. [18]
The Scandinavian state institutions Systembolaget and Vinmonopolet analyzed the environmental impact of various wine packaging in 2010. Bag-in-Box packaging was found to leave only 12% to 29% of the carbon footprint of bottled wine and was found to be superior by every other ecological criterion. [19]
Tyler Colman from The New York Times stated that bag-in-box is more environmentally friendly than bottled wine [15] as well as easier to transport and store.
The introduction of cask wine in the late 1960s has had significant negative consequences. The Australian wine industry has benefited from favorable tax policies, which have led to a substantial increase in both domestic consumption and international exports. However, these developments have not been without drawbacks, particularly in terms of public health and social issues related to increased alcohol accessibility and consumption. [20]
In Australia, boxed wine is known colloquially as "goon". [21] The cardboard box is referred to as a "goon box" and the bag within is referred to as a "goon bag". A common Australian drinking game is Goon of Fortune, in which a goon bag is suspended from a Hills Hoist and spun, and whoever it stops on must drink a selected amount of the goon.
The word goon is derived from the word flagon, which is a traditional container for retailing inexpensive wine or vinegar. An occasional Australian pronunciation of the word flagon, perhaps with humorous intent, placed emphasis on the second syllable such that flagon came to be pronounced as "fla-goon", which was then shortened to simply "goon". [22]
Additionally, in Australia the term "silverpillow" is used to refer to the habit of inflating the empty bag and using it as a headrest.
In New Zealand, the term "Château Cardboard", originally a joking reference to the wine's container, has entered the vernacular to refer to box wine. [23]
An alcopop is any of certain mixed alcoholic beverages with relatively low alcohol content, including:
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit. Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made from grapes, and the term "wine" generally refers to grape wine when used without any qualification. Even so, wine can be made from a variety of fruit crops, including plum, cherry, pomegranate, blueberry, currant, and elderberry.
Systembolaget, colloquially known as systemet or bolaget, is a government-owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. It is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol by volume. Systembolaget acts as a portal for private companies selling alcohol on the Swedish market and as of 2023, it represents 1,200 vendors ranging from small local breweries to large scale importers and multinational companies, selling products from a total of over 5,000 producers from all over the world.
Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties - The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grapes is greenish-white, the red color coming from anthocyan pigments present in the skin of the grape. Much of the red wine production process involves extraction of color and flavor components from the grape skin.
A bag-in-box or BiB is a container for the storage and transportation of liquids. It consists of a strong bladder, usually made of several layers of metallised film or other plastics, seated inside a corrugated fiberboard box.
Container-deposit legislation is any law that requires the collection of a monetary deposit on beverage containers at the point of sale and/or the payment of refund value to the consumers. When the container is returned to an authorized redemption center, or retailer in some jurisdictions, the deposit is partly or fully refunded to the redeemer. It is a deposit-refund system.
A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors, wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence, off-sale, bottle shop, bottle store or, colloquially, bottle-o, liquor store or other similar terms. A very limited number of jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. In US states that are alcoholic beverage control (ABC) states, the term ABC store may be used.
Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term cardboard may refer to a variety of heavy paper-like materials, including card stock, corrugated fiberboard, and paperboard. Cardboard boxes can be readily recycled.
Plastic milk containers are plastic containers for storing, shipping and dispensing milk. Plastic bottles, sometimes called jugs, have largely replaced glass bottles for home consumption. Glass milk bottles have traditionally been reusable while light-weight plastic bottles are designed for single trips and plastic recycling.
Vinmonopolet, symbolized by Ⓥ and colloquially shortened to Polet, is a government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer and the only company allowed to sell beverages containing an alcohol content higher than 4.75% in Norway.
Alcoholic drinks in Sweden are as common as in most of the Western world. Sweden is historically part of the vodka belt, with high consumption of distilled drinks and binge drinking, but during the later half of the 20th century, habits became more harmonized with western Europe, with increasing popularity of wine and weekday drinking. Wine is now also grown and produced in several parts of Sweden and the southernmost region of Skåne is turning into a hub experiencing a strong growth in number of active vineyards.
Plonk is a term used primarily in Commonwealth English for generally cheap, low-quality wine. Some believe it to come from Australian slang, in reference to blanc, before it became naturalised in Britain. Despite the reference to the colour white, the term is not limited to white wine, and can as easily indicate a red wine or rosé. In this context, the phrase has even spawned the title of a novel which evokes the perceived tackiness of the 1980s.
This glossary of winemaking terms lists some of terms and definitions involved in making wine, fruit wine, and mead.
Alcohol laws are laws relating to manufacture, use, being under the influence of and sale of alcohol or alcoholic beverages. Common alcoholic beverages include beer, wine, (hard) cider, and distilled spirits. Definition of alcoholic beverage varies internationally, e.g., the United States defines an alcoholic beverage as "any beverage in liquid form which contains not less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume". Alcohol laws can restrict those who can produce alcohol, those who can buy it, when one can buy it, labelling and advertising, the types of alcoholic beverage that can be sold, where one can consume it, what activities are prohibited while intoxicated, and where one can buy it. In some cases, laws have even prohibited the use and sale of alcohol entirely.
Thomas William Carlyon Angove AM was an Australian winemaker who is credited with the invention of the wine cask.
Ecologic Brands Inc. is a United States company that specializes in creating eco-friendly packaging for consumer products. The products are made from sustainable materials and are designed to be recyclable or compostable. The company also provides branding and marketing services to help companies promote their environmentally conscious products.
A low plastic water bottle is one that uses less plastic than a regular water bottle, typically by having the same internal volume but being made from thinner plastic. Some such bottles have less than half the plastic of a regular water bottle.
Goon of Fortune, sometimes called Wheel of Goon, is an Australian drinking game involving cheap cask wine, played between any number of people. The name is a spoof on the TV show Wheel of Fortune.
The pizza box or pizza package is a folding packaging box usually made of corrugated fiberboard in which hot pizzas are stored for take-out. The pizza box also makes home delivery and takeaway substantially easier. The pizza box has to be highly resistant, cheap, stackable, thermally insulated to regulate humidity and suitable for food transportation. In addition, it provides space for advertising. The pizza packages differ from those of frozen pizzas, which contain the frozen product in heat-sealed plastic foils as is the case with much frozen food.
Plastic containers are containers made exclusively or partially of plastic. Plastic containers are ubiquitous either as single-use or reuseable/durable plastic cups, plastic bottles, plastic bags, foam food containers, Tupperware, plastic tubes, clamshells, cosmetic containers, up to intermediate bulk containers and various types of containers made of corrugated plastic. The entire packaging industry heavily depends on plastic containers or containers with some plastic content, besides paperboard and other materials. Food storage nowadays relies mainly on plastic food storage containers.
