We hope we never see the day that a sommelier walks over to our table at a nice restaurant and fills our wine glass with a squeeze of his knob. Yes, there is a time and place for boxed wine. Though how fun would it be to have a restaurant provide nothing but a vast array of high-quality boxed wines wheeled up on a shiny service cart?
The days of Mom drunk in the corner clutching a box of Franzia are a distant memory because wine encased in vacuum-sealed bags and surrounded by cardboard has come a long way, bambinos. Like screw-cap wines, boxes are coming out of the closet as an acceptable way to package vino.
One of the latest to hit the market is Ducca del Frassino, hailing from one of the most highly praised wine regions of the world – the Veneto in Italy. This is real Italian wine. Plus, you can build a fort with the boxes and hide inside, unlike bottles, which are much less architecturally sound.
We tried the Ducca del Frassino 2008 Cabernet/Corvina blend, a fantastic chit-chatty wine or one easily paired with a variety of foods (a rich meaty sauce over whole wheat pasta is superb). The flavors are fruity yet bold, without the overwhelming tannins that keep many people away from reds in the first place.
We found that this blend works best refrigerated before pouring. The ideal temperature for reds is usually somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, so we’d rather the wine acclimate to the environment rather than drink one at room temperature that’s far too warm. Five to 10 minutes in the glass is all you need to take the chill off.
Best of all, each box is 100% recyclable and holds the equivalent of four standard 750ml wine bottles that stay fresh up to five weeks after opening.
If it lasts that long.
$19.99 (suggested retail)
3 liters
Imported by Cantina di Soave (CDS) USA
www.cantinasoaveusa.com
