Wine Tip from Mom

Since we regularly have high quality home brew on tap and and I'm the only one in this house that drinks wine...I have traded my wine drinking days for beer drinking days. Not that I'm complaining. A high quality craft beer, even if not made at home, is often less money than middle of the road wine. And I've found that food pairings are a little more flexible with beer as well (and more exciting, especially with home brew!).

However, from time to time, I still want a glass of wine. Or better yet, I want to use some wine to deglaze a pan for a scrumptious sauce. But what I don't want is to have to plan multiple days of consumption and cooking in order to rationalize the cost of opening a bottle of wine. At Mom's this weekend (more on the birthday meal later), she poured me a glass of pinot grigio when I arrived. I inquired as to what the label was. Turns out, it's from a box. Specifically, Black Box. Great find Mom!

I picked up a box of it today and I'm so happy to have a glass of wine, but to not feel pressure to have more than a glass or decide what I'm eating and drinking tomorrow because of an open bottle. I would put this wine into what I call "good table wine". It is a classic pinot grigio with light citrus notes and stone fruit, and is not too dry, but dry enough to not be sweet. If I spent $10-12 on a bottle of this, I would have been satisfied in its being a balanced wine without too much acidity or mouth-puckering. Instead I spent $19 on the box, which is 3 liters of wine.

Of course, box wine has been around forever. And although personally, this is my first box purchase, I've tasted plenty of awful, insipid, cloying, and downright vile box wine. I am blown away by the find of this box. This is the perfect solution for single people, or those who are the lone wine imbiber in their household who still want good quality wine without paying good money for a bottle when half of it will oxidize into undrinkable swill. The box states that it lasts for four weeks. It has a very tight spout and the vacuum sealed bag feels solid...so I'm inclined to believe it. But I'll put up an update next month and let you know!