What's In the Box

• Most boxed wine is in packaging that is called bag-in-box. A 3-liter bag within the box holds the wine and protects it from most oxygen exposure. A tap is on the outside of the box to dispense the wine. As wine is expelled through the tap, the bag shrinks, leaving no room for oxygen. The bag-in-box packaging isn’t completely impervious to oxygen exposure, so the wine will spoil eventually.

Boxed Wine Will Blemish

• Although the vacuum-sealed bag within boxed wine prevents most of the oxygen exposure to the wine, it cannot prevent it completely. Oxygen is one of the elements that can cause wine to age too quickly, eventually ruining it. Unopened boxed wine has a shelf life of somewhere between nine and 12 months. Depending on the length of time it has spent on the shelf at the store, your boxed wine might already be bad when you buy it. Most boxed wine comes with a production date printed on the box. By adding nine to 12 months to the date, you can make an educated guess about the state of the wine.

Value of Boxed Varietals

• Boxed wine has several advantages. For one, the boxes hold about four standard bottles worth of wine at an affordable price, equal to around $5 per bottle at the time of publication. Boxed wine is also appealing to people who do not drink wine often. Once open, boxed wine remains good for about four to six weeks, while bottled wine should be refrigerated after opening and used within a week.

Changing Attitudes

• Boxed wine has long been looked down upon as inferior to wine in bottles. Memories of broke college days and cheap wine overshadow the fact that some high-quality wine is sold in boxes. In parts of Europe, around half of the wine bought by consumers is boxed. Since 2000, boxed wine has grown in popularity by about 20 percent each year in the U.S.