I like the good outdoor. Mountaineering to a distant peak and feeling the solar and wind whereas admiring the wonder, or kayaking down a river, or lounging on the seaside—these are soul-restoring actions in our hectic trendy world.
I additionally love wine. Opening and sharing a shocking bottle with individuals who will savor it as I do can also be soul-restoring to me. I particularly take pleasure in combining these two soul-restoring actions, wine and the outside, however there may be one main drawback: the glass bottle.
Glass bottles are heavy. And glass breaks. This makes packing out and in of the wilderness rather more troublesome—and there ought to be no glass on the seaside or on the pool. Oh, and did you keep in mind the corkscrew?
Happily, we now have wine containers which might be nice for taking to the seaside, pool or wilderness—and so they’re simply pretty much as good as, and even higher than, glass bottles for storing wine.
Glass bottles began getting used to retailer and transport wine as soon as glassblowing strategies superior in the course of the time of the Roman Empire, and have become extra widespread in the course of the Renaissance and in subsequent centuries. In different phrases, we now have been utilizing glass wine bottles for some 2,000 years—with little or no change.
In the meantime, new “various” packaging choices have been round for lower than 50 years—and used for wine for much lower than that. Listed here are a number of the extra widespread forms of various packaging now getting used for wine.
Bag-in-box: Additionally referred to as boxed wine packaging, this entails a plastic bladder or bag crammed with wine; it’s then positioned inside a cardboard field. The wine is allotted via an connected faucet or spout. This packaging is handy and light-weight, and it supplies an hermetic seal, which helps protect the wine’s freshness.
Tetra Pak: Tetra Pak cartons are generally related to juice and milk, however they’re now used for wine packaging, too. These cartons encompass a number of layers of paperboard and plastic, offering safety in opposition to gentle and oxygen.
Cans: Aluminum cans are light-weight, transportable and simply recyclable. Cans additionally provide glorious safety in opposition to gentle and oxygen, making certain the wine’s high quality.
It wasn’t that way back that individuals thought solely poor-quality wine was put right into a bottle with a screw cap—and so they’re now thought-about mainstream.
PET plastic bottles: Polyethylene terephthalate bottles are light-weight and shatterproof, making them a viable various to glass bottles; they’re additionally recyclable. Nonetheless, PET bottles might not present the identical degree of oxygen safety as glass or different packaging choices, which may influence the wine’s getting old course of.
Pouches: Wine pouches are much like bag-in-box packaging, however in a smaller format. They’re constructed from versatile supplies and are straightforward to hold. Wine pouches are sometimes used for single-serve parts or for wines consumed rapidly after opening.
It wasn’t that way back that individuals thought solely poor-quality wine was put right into a bottle with a screw cap. Screw caps had been the primary main change in wine packaging for hundreds of years—and so they’re now thought-about mainstream, even for higher-quality wines. The identical shall be true for all of those various packages sometime, as extra high quality wines begin being bought in them.
And belief me: Extra high quality wines shall be bought in them, as a result of these various packages provide benefits over bottles.
Comfort and portability: Bag-in-box, Tetra Pak cartons, aluminum cans and pouches can all be tossed in a cooler, backpack or picnic basket, with no opener required and no glass to interrupt.
Preservation of freshness: Bag-in-box is the clear winner on this space. As wine is allotted from the container, the bag collapses contained in the field, stopping the wine from coming into contact with oxygen—which preserves the wine’s freshness. This methodology permits for wine to remain contemporary for weeks and even months. That is good for individuals who solely desire a single glass of wine every now and then.
Worth: Once more, bag-in-box wins right here. Right here in Reno, you should buy a high quality three-liter field of wine within the $15-$20 vary—the equal of 4 750-milliliter bottles. A can of wine is often 375 milliliters, the equal of half a bottle, and prices $6—which is usually a worth, since you solely must open “half a bottle” at a time.
Environmental influence: Sure, glass might be recycled, however glass is heavy, and the influence of delivery the bottles from the producer, to the vineyard, to the shop, to your house and to the recycling facility creates a big carbon footprint in transportation alone.
Wine high quality and selection: You could be shocked to study that boxed wine has gained many gold medals in prestigious wine competitions. Black Field wines have gained greater than 100 gold medals, and Bota Field wines have greater than 145 gold medals.
Right this moment, we now have entry to great-tasting, high quality wines, in handy, environmentally accountable packaging that’s straightforward to hold in, and again out, when outdoor—which, provided that we reside in attractive Northern Nevada, is an excellent factor.