Box Wines
A wine blog with news and reviews of affordable wines

Price: $6
Maker: Banrock Station Wines, Kingston on Murray, South Australia
Varietal: Shiraz (80%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%)
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10

We’ve seen Banrock Station Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, an Aussie bargain wine, on the shelf numerous times, and finally brought a bottle home. This wine is mostly Shiraz (80%) with some Cabernet Sauvingon blended in. It has a fairly potent aroma of berries, cedar, spice. On the palate, it’s very juicy - we found it to be medium bodied with flavors of ripe cherries, oak, and nicely balanced tannins. It’s not particularly spicy for a Shiraz. We recommend letting this wine breathe for quite a while, as that brought out the fruit and made the wine more pleasant overall.

We hope to see some Banrock Station casks (that’s what boxed wine is called in Australia) eventually. They haven’t hit our local market, but judging by the Banrock Station website they are a major focus of the firm.

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Price: $25
Maker: Estancia Winery, Soledad, California
Variety: Meritage - blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (61%), Merlot (30%), Petit Verdot (9%)
Packaging: 750 ml Bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 14.5%
Our Rating: 9 out of 10

Estancia Paso Robles Meritage 2004 is an interesting and tasty wine. First, a bit about the label. “Meritage” isn’t a varietal. Rather, it’ a controlled designation originally intended as California’s answer to Bordeaux. Meritage is actually a trademark that can be used only by members of the Meritage Association and put only on wines meeting specific criteria. The wine must be a blend of at least two grapes from a list that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and others. In addition, the association expects that wineries will use the label only on their finest blend, and will limit the production of that blend.

Our impression of the Estancia Meritage is that the winery has indeed followed the guidance of the Meritage Association and used the label on a blend they consider superior. This is a big wine that seems almost like a Zin with its powerful nose, big flavor, and relatively high alcohol content. This wine’s aroma is full of cherries, spice, and oak. On the palate, it starts with more cherries, blackberries, and a hint of mocha, leading into a lengthy finish that’s a balance of tannins, oak, and mild pepper. This is exactly the kind of red wine that we’re partial to, and pouring the last glass from the bottle was a sad moment. Pair this with beef or other strongly flavored entrees that need a red wine that can hold its own.

Hunting around wine blogs for commentary, we found that The Wino Club awarded Estancia Paso Robles Meritage 2004 a “double gold” when they tasted nine different Meritages.

Overall, this Meritage is a red wine worth trying. Our bottle came as a gift at our annual Christmas party - a thoughtful gift indeed!

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Price: $11
Maker: McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate, New South Wales, Australia
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10

McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is a nice enough Cab, though I didn’t like it as well as McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz 2005. Modest blueberry and blackberry fruit combine with chocolate, oak and a slightly sharp tannic finish to produce a pleasant but relatively forgettable wine.

The McWilliams website describes the winemaking process:

The grapes were fermented in a variation of ‘headed down’ fermenters and rotary fermenters to provide a complexity of flavour to the finished wine. A portion of the wine finished fermentation in contact with new American and French oak and a portion was barrel fermented in one and two year old barrels. The wine was matured on oak for seven months and then blended.

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Price: $10
Maker: Peter Vella Wines, Modesto, California
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 5 liter box, push-button spigot
Alcohol: 11%
Our Rating: 6 out of 10

Peter Vella Cabernet Sauvignon is an ultra-cheap box wine - we found a 5-liter box on sale for less than ten bucks. We have studiously avoided these offerings from Vella and Franzia because we’ve invariable been disappointed. But, it was on sale, and this box proudly exhibited a gold medal from Chef’s Best - the coveted (?) “Best Taste” award for 2007. Before we knew it, a box had somehow found its way into the shopping cart. As it turns out, we could have saved the trouble of lugging this box home. This wine is light-bodied for a Cab - it weighs in at a mere 11% alcohol, and the color is a rather light ruby shade. The flavor, unfortunately, was mostly oaked prunes. Pouring a glass and letting it breathe for a while slightly improved the flavor, but we’d consider this acceptable only for starving college students looking to buy massive quantities of wine for not much money.

So what’s up with the Chef’s Best medal? We checked out the website, and it is stated that the tests are conducted in a blind tasting process. What isn’t clear is exactly how products are chosen to be tasted, or what percent end up earning the “Chef’s Best” designation. The site says that “we judge all qualifying leading national brands.” Was this Peter Vella Cabernet Sauvignon judged against just, say, Franzia and Almaden (who offer similar package sizes), or did it include other cabs in smaller boxes or bottles? It’s hard to imagine this wine beating out, say, a Killer Juice or Black Box Cab, but of course those cost more and might have been excluded. And a cheap $5 bottle is far more costly than the Vella wine. Even Two Buck Chuck Cabernet Sauvignon looks expensive by comparison. If the Chef’s Best tried to compare only equivalently priced wines, the would have been hard-pressed to find more than one or two wines in the same range as the Vella.

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Price: $10
Maker: Ernest & Julio Gallo, Modesto, California
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.8%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Gallo Sonoma Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 is, at last, a Gallo wine we can recommend. It is a medium-bodied Cab with a nice nose of juicy berries and spice. Cherries and raspberries, with a bit of chocolate, lead into a surprisingly long finish characterized by oak and smooth tannins.

We haven’t encountered too many Gallo-labeled wines we like, but Gallo Sonoma Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 isn’t bad at all. It’s good to know that a name with such a long tradition of winemakeing can do something a lot better than jug wine or stuff like Gallo Cafe Zinfandel (which a number of my visitors seem to like, but which I definitely didn’t.)

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Wine Cube Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2006Price: $10
Maker: Wine Cube
Variety: Shiraz
Packaging: 1.5 liter box
Alcohol: 13%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10

is the first wine in Target’s WineCube series we have tried in a while. We did try Wine Cube Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2004, and we commented, “The aroma is mild, with berry and oak notes. The flavor is straightforward and juicy, with just a bit of oak and spice to add interest. This wine doesn’t have a lot of structure, but it’s the kind of red that pleases crowds. It’s easy to drink, and would be a fine cookout wine.” The 2006 fits that description fairly well. We found a bit of leather in the nose, and the tannins seemed slightly more prominent. Otherwise, the 2006 was quite similar.

The 1.5 liter cube is a great packaging concept. It seems impossible that this compact box could hold two full bottles, but it does. And, at only 1.5 liters, glass-a-day drinkers won’t get bored by having to consume 3 liters of the same stuff one glass at a time.

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Price: $14
Maker: Imported by International Cellars, Madera, California
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 3 liter box, push-button spigot
Alcohol: 13%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10

Box Star Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is a relatively new mass-market offering, and it’s not bad. This Cab has a licorice and berry nose, and a flavor with cherries, chocolate, and a bit of clove. The finish has some oak and soft tannins. Don’t expect a lot of complexity, but it’s certainly drinkable.

This boxed wine fared reasonably well in a blind tasting organized by the Austin Chronicle. We couldn’t learn much about the Box Star brand, other than the fact that its wines are from Australia. There’s no website listed, which in our opinion is a strategic error. People want to know more about the wines they buy, and in particular about a box wine they’ll be living with for the better part of a month (if they are moderate drinkers and don’t have any parties planned).

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Price: $9
Maker: Robert Mondavi, Woodbridge, California
Varietal: Blend - 68% Cabernet Sauvginon, 14% Merlot, 11% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, artificial cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Robert Mondavi Private Selection Vinetta 2005 starts with a powerful licorice and berry nose. The flavor of this wine was rounded, fruity, and well-balanced, with cherries and a bit of cocoa leading into a finish that was long, a bit oaky, and slightly acidic. This was a very nice red wine that is supposed to be Bordeaux-style but is probably a bit fruitier than the real appelation. That’s OK with us, as we tend to prefer fruitier wines vs. those that are more mineral in character.

According to the Robert Mondavi Private Selection website, “The wines of Robert Mondavi Private Selection embrace the best characteristics of their distinctive vineyards on California’s coast, where cool fog and ocean breezes create a long growing season that results in grapes of intense flavor concentration.” Sounds fine to us, and it’s borne out at least in part by the pleasant character of this wine.

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Price: $6
Maker: Alexander & Fitch Winery, Sonoma, California
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 13.2%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Alexander & Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 is another mystery wine from Trader Joe’s, and is apparently a Bronco wine product. Despite that pedestrian lineage, for its price this is a nice red wine. The nose is particularly pleasant, with juicy berries and spice predominating, with hints of leather and tobacco. This is a medium-bodied cab, with cherries and oak up front, a bit of chocolate in the middle, and a surprisingly long, tannic, slightly smoky finish. This wine was unpleasantly sharp upon first tasting, but letting it breathe smoothed it out and brought out the flavor nicely.

Quite a few of the wines offered by Trader Joe’s seem to trace back to Bronco. There’s nothing wrong with this, as we’ve found a number of sub-$10 offerings that were the equals of much more expensive wines. Unfortunately, we lose a bit of color with these wines. There’s no website, no backstory, no links to comments and awards, etc. Half the fun of trying a new wine is learning a bit about its history, and these Bronco offerings seem to have been left on Trader Joe’s doorstep like so many orphans in baskets. Whatever its origins, though, Alexander & Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 is yet another inexpensive winner from Trader Joe’s.

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Price: $8
Maker: Solterra Winery, Chile
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork
Alcohol: 14%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10

Solterra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 starts with aromas of juicy berries, vanilla, and oak. Its flavors match the nose,with blackberry and cherry notes, a hint of cloves, and a slightly earthy, mineral character. This isn’t a wimpy Cab, and weighs in at the high end of the typical Cab alcohol range. It had some nice aspects, but somehow didn’t come together in the end. It’s not a bad wine, though.

This is definitely a stealth product. We couldn’t locate website for Solterra Winery, and the importer, Arbor Beverage Co. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has a one-page website devoid of product information. Some serious sleuthing tracked down this bit of history: “Professor and Jazz singer Marlena Studer visited Chile in 2002 and found a paradise and all the ingredients needed to produce a fine wine. Thus inspired, she partnered with a Chilean winemaker and they hand-select wines, which are bottled under the Solterra label and sent to Ann Arbor. The wines have been well received and are selling well.” They appear to have a range of varietals, including Carmenere, Chardonnay, and Merlot in addition to a number of Cabernet Sauvignons.

Solterra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 may not have been our favorite Cab, but it was promising enough that we’d try another Solterra wine if we found it.

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