Here`s why it`s time you started drinking wine out of a box

I’m sipping a glass of raisiny red at St John in Spitalfields, chatting to the duty manager about box wine. ‘I remember my mum always got a box in for Christmas,’ he laughs. ‘My friend and I once downed a whole one between us.’

Box wine is synonymous with parties, festivals and the kind of booze you drink for its alcohol percentage rather than its complex bouquet. But indie winemakers are starting to use box technology (usually employed by bulk manufacturers) to make their tipple more affordable. It opens up a whole world of wine for people (like, ahem, me) who won’t pay more for a glass of vino than they’ll spend on lunch in Pret.

In fact, the tipple I’m enjoying is one of St John’s three box house wines. As well as the red there’s a fruity rosé and a dusky white – and they’re a world away from the supermarket box wine I’m used to chugging on the pre-lash.

‘About four years ago people just couldn’t believe that a nice restaurant would stock box wine,’ saysTrevor Gulliver, CEO and founder. ‘I’m old enough to remember the first time they came to the UK from Australia in the ‘70s, they were called “chunder boxes”.’

Trevor explains that there are no benefits to putting wine in a bottle over a box. In fact, the box mechanisms are actually so secure that they keep wine fresher than when it’s in a bottle: ‘People think it’s wrong to put a good wine in a box or bag, but I don’t really understand the argument. With a box, you get four bottles for the price of three.’


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