My wife takes box wine when she goes on vacation with her mom, who doesn’t drink. She just buys whatever she can find at the time and it is good enough for the purpose.
Since box wine is so cheap, go buy a few and try them. Get a fresh box of the one you like for the trip.
And get some Govino glasses.
Thanks all - hugely appreciated. I shall go for some Platypi - have some good candidates to fill them in the wine rack.
Most emphatically not stems but I do have some Riedel O which I took on my previous camping trip with the same bunch of guys - I rather get the impression that the fact I’m being invited back is mostly to do with the food, drink and accoutrements I brought so I shall be taking four of those…
Agreed a great burg is never going to be best contemplated around a camp fire after a bowl of chili or bright orange mac and cheese but I have some reasonable syrahs and even zins which will probably be a lot more enjoyable than most of the box stuff. Plus of course I get to turn up with a piece of kit that no-one else there has…which is a huge benefit in itself…
Thanks, Robert. I clicked on the “Contact” menu and it provided me with an email address for a Colorado distributor. I’ve emailed him, looking for a retailer.
Use to be able to buy a Brocard entry level chardonnay in a box for about $45.
Damn that looks cold. Next time bring some bourbon?
Monte Bernardi makes a very drinkable Rosso Sangiovese in a 1 liter tetra pack. Not sure about availability there, but our Whole Foods stocks it.
Have had the French Rabbit in the tetra pak and thought it was decent. Several varieties available.
Best part: after you’re done you can break out the .22 and blast away at the cartons!
Not sure I’d like drinking the wine, but shooting up those French containers would be fun! 
If you must go box: Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel 2010 is the best wine from a box I’ve tried. Simple. Big fruit. But tasty.
Never tried the Vina Borgia, but if the need arises, it’s worth a try…
Trust me, the quality is staggering relative the price.
Best,
Kenney
Bump! If someone would make a good $30-$50 3L box wine, I would buy it nearly every other week. What is the best box wine out there now and how come this isn’t a thing?
Our wine group did a summer tasting of box wines for fun this summer. I was surprised at the quality of some of the wines. Are they high quality? Probably not, but the favorites were drinkable and much better than many similar lower cost wines.
The groups favorites included Black Box Malbec and Sauvignon blanc and Cupcake Red Velvet.
The Vin Vault Cabernet Sauvignon was much better than expected for a lower end cabernet.
I regularly take 3L or even 5L box wines on backpacking trips. Remove the bladder from the box and it can fit in the top flap part of your pack. It goes against every aspect of how you are meant to load a backpack, and the hike in really sucks with the extra weight, but it’s pretty nice to have wine in the backcountry and then you just pack the empty bladder back out. Not practical for trips where you are hiking a loop, but if you are doing a trip where you go in, set up camp for a few days and then hike out, it’s great.
I’ve done that too–but now I’m too snobby for shitty Black Box. Why does box wine still suck so bad if it makes so much sense? I guess winemakers are all even snobbier than me? Heading out on the AT for a section in VA in October. With this section done–I will have completed all of GA, TN, NC, VA, MD, WV, VT, and NH on the trail.
Yeah, Black Box is not on the list. The Jenny and Francois ‘From the Tank’ wines are solid options, though.
This won’t help you in SF, but Sweden has an amazing variety of boxed wines. Plenty of options at the Systembolaget when I was there for midsommar, including great boxes from dudes like Josef Leitz. Still room for growth in the US…
Are you a principle of USQ or an employee?
I work here, not a principle.
Slightly off topic but I really don’t understand why more producers don’t do box wine specifically for wine by the glass sales in the restaurant market. There’s no possibility of the wine being corked, it’s much less prone to oxidation once opened and I have no doubt the packaging and shipping costs would be cheaper on a per-liter basis. It would also be great for parties.
The biggest problem with boxed wine is the lack of quality. I mean, you’ll never see a Dujac Chambertin in a box but quality CDR, bourgogne rouge/blanc, Chianti, cru bourgeois Bordeaux, countless California wines and many other offerings in the $5-20 per bottle range could make great candidates. In the past I suggested to a Cali Central Coast producer that doing some of their appellation-level pinots that way might be a good idea.
Exactly!!! Especially with the glut of good grapes being left hanging on vines. You think there would be more given this thread started over five years ago.