Wine in a box, wine in a can

[Brad Ballinger]

Full article here.

Modern wine drinkers prefer packaging that lets them enjoy wine wherever they go, including venues where traditional glass bottles are not allowed. StarShield® wine bottles from Constar can be conveniently and safely used at sports arenas and golf courses, beaches and barbeques, poolside and marinas allowing for more wine-drinking occasions.

[thursdaynext]

Waaahhhh!

[jsolomon]

There's something annoying about this. Yes, I understand that it is certainly nice to have my cake and eat it, too (or wine, to wit). But, what happened to a time and a place for things to happen?

Or, *gasp* planning ahead and decanting the wine into a more travel-appropriate container? I can't blame the companies for preying on the lack of forethought or common sense of a group of consumers, but I can't clap them on the back and say "attadude".

Is there something fundamentally American about doing two or more things at once? Something so pervasive that we can't abide taking the time to only do one?

The thing that truly irks me about this is packaging what I'm assuming is industro-plonk wine in this manner is going to foster a more laissez faire attitude about wine serving, consumption, and storage. While consumption I could handle a more laissez faire attitude about, abusing wine by stacking it by the pallet is going to spur the wine handlers to handle it like beer cans, which at least have the benefit of being opaque (or mostly, in the case of brown plastic bottles). In this manner, the beer is protected from light. The wine, much less so.

On the other side of the coin, does it indicate we've turned a corner, if you can get a microbottle of merlot when you go to the next Oz-Fest? I'm not sure, but I don't want to be the first person to order wine there.

[Daniel Rogov]

In my role as wine critic, I will taste anything that may be of interest to my readers. In my role of wine lover, I truly and most sincerely hope that all reading this will live long enough to see the day when, for my own pleasure, I purchase wine in either a can or a plastic container. If that should be the case, I can assure you all a very, very long life indeed.