“Everybody loves an underdog,” Tablas Creek partner and general manager Jason Haas said with a smile. Is there any bigger underdog in the world of wine than boxed wine?
The format was first introduced in the 1970s and drew criticism almost immediately for the poor quality of the wines inside. Subsequent years didn’t do it any favors. The boxes almost always contained mass-production wine lacking any personality, and boxed wine became a synonym for cheap wine lacking sophistication.
Today, the boxed wine category is showing promising signs of growth, and brands focused on putting high quality wine inside those boxes are leading the charge. According to Nielsen, retail sales of boxed wine increased by more than 4 percent by value in 2024. Premium boxed wines—those priced at $28 or more—led that growth, with sales totaling $1.6 billion, a nearly nine percent increase compared to 2023.
“I’m so tired of all the headlines about wine being a dying industry. There are bright spots, and this is one of them,” said Nomadica founder Kristin Olszewski.
Wine drinkers are attracted to the convenience and sustainability of the boxes and the freshness of the wine inside. “I don’t think it’s going to overwhelm the bottled wine segment, but I have been continuously surprised by the receptiveness of our direct-to-consumer customers,” said Haas.
We recently tasted a sizable batch of strictly bag-in-box wines in our Napa office, focusing on the premium and ultra-premium tiers to see if wineries can dispel the notion that boxed wines are of poor quality. Below, you’ll find prices and tasting notes (but no scores, as we tasted the wines non-blind) for a selection that performed well in our tasting.
Thinking Inside the Box
“I got interested in boxed wine a few years ago while pounding the pavement in New York,” said Olszewski, a former sommelier who now produces several different boxed and canned wines from California. “From Whole Foods to tiny shops, I kept seeing high quality, premium-priced boxed wines. I started asking how it was selling, and I was shocked at the success across so many different neighborhoods and customers.”
Meanwhile, in the township of Edmunds, Washington, 15 miles north of Seattle, Lee Reeves, proprietor of Vertical Wine Collective, is betting that the boxed wine movement is more than just a phase. After a brief period of operating online, he recently opened a brick-and-mortar location where guests can buy glasses and flights of boxed wine, or take boxes home.
“When we looked across the spectrum of boxes and bottles, non-alcoholic and ready-to-drink, we saw customers gravitating toward the boxed medium,” he explained. “We had never seen a boxed wine shop before. And I was very adamant that we needed to do something just a little bit different if we were going to succeed.”
Being an underdog is just part of the category, and as Haas points out, people need to dispel their preconceived notions if they’re going to buy or make boxed wine. In 2020, Hass wrote a blog about a self-audit he had performed on Tablas Creek’s carbon footprint. He discovered he could reduce emissions by 40 percent if the Paso Robles winery packaged its wine in bag-in-box containers rather than glass bottles. “But I sort of dismissed that in a sentence or two as not a viable option,” he remembered. “Then, a friend commented on my personal Facebook page and said, ‘How do you expect people to reevaluate their prejudices about this package if a winery like Tablas Creek isn’t willing to take a crack at doing it themselves?’”
In 2022, Tablas Creek grabbed attention when it put a significant portion of its popular Patelin de Tablas Rosé into a three-liter, bag-in-box packaging and priced it at $95. “We got a lot of people reaching out saying, ‘We never thought anyone would do this,’” said Haas. “The response has surprised me at every stage with the degree to which people are willing not just to try something they’ve never tried before, but to take pride in [it], and then confound their friends by bringing a box of wine to the next party, and tell the story.”
The Box Means Green
Olszewski was also surprised by her foray into boxed wine. She began Nomadica with canned wine and admitted that the first few years were brutal. However, when she decided to launch the wine in a box, the rollout was much smoother. “Normally, I’d test new products direct-to-consumer, but I was skeptical that a $40 box would work on shelves. Whole Foods tested us in a handful of markets and it worked!”
Like Tablas Creek, the driving force behind many wineries’ decision to package wine in boxes is the sustainability factor. The carbon footprint of the boxed package is eight times lower compared to glass bottles, and the corrugated material is fully recyclable.
“My motivation has always been driven by the environmental benefit relative to single-use glass,” said Melissa Saunders, owner of Communal Brands, a New York–based importer and distributor with a focus on sustainable wines, including boxed wine brands. “Everyone praises the environmental credentials of glass because of its recyclability, but in the majority of instances in the U.S., it is not being recycled! Bag-in-box has the best environmental credentials of any other packaging and generates the least amount of packaging waste.”
Reeves has embraced the ethos of the small independent boxed wines he sells at Vertical Wine Collective and has implemented a bottle-to-box program, allowing customers to bring in their glass wine bottles for store credit. “We recycle them, potentially find an artist to commission a glass piece using those bottles, or reuse them at local events,” he said.
Beyond sustainability, there are two other advantages for the consumer: convenience and freshness. A box can be more portable than a glass bottle, and no corkscrew is required. The plastic bladder inside collapses as wine is dispensed, essentially eliminating oxidation and allowing the wine to stay fresher longer—up to weeks in the fridge.
On the flip side, boxed wines have a relatively short shelf life before opening. The bag inside the box is typically made of polyethylene plastic, which, while safe, is permeable, and microscopic amounts of oxygen will cause the wine to lose its freshness and lead to a potentially flawed product.
“You’ve got six months, really, where the wine is in top shape, and then depending on how it’s stored, you’ve got another three to six months where it’s still in decent shape. And then by that point, it starts to be oxidized,” explained Haas, noting that delays in the wholesale channel have on more than one occasion forced him to bring back any unsold boxes and sell them directly. “We don’t want it sitting out there and somebody’s first experience to be from a 10-month-old box and have it taste tired.”
Still, on a big-picture level, wineries are becoming more open to exploring the category, as evidenced by the list of well-known wineries below, which have similarly boxed a portion of popular bottled wines. “This year we’ll sell almost 5,000 boxes of wine, the equivalent of 1,648 cases. That’s about 5 percent of our total production,” said Haas, noting that their boxed wine program produced more than a quarter million dollars in revenue—a growth of 74 percent during a time when most wine sales have been flat or slightly down.
Saunders hopes quality wine in boxes sparks conversation and curiosity about alternative packaging. “The potential new wine consumer is interested in authentic, high-quality wine and has concern for the planet and with a motivation to make purchasing decisions based on the environment,” she said. “I’m excited to see the quality box wine category grow and to help consumers understand that a glass bottle isn’t a de facto metric for quality. On the contrary. It’s time to break our glass habit and make boxed wine the new heavy bottle.”
10 Recommended Boxed Red, White and Rosé Wines
Bedrock Wine Co.
Mourvèdre Rosé Ode to Lulu California 2024
$100 | 3L
Light salmon-hued, with pleasant herbaceous tones complementing the juicy flavors of wild strawberry and cherry gelée, and notes of dried ginger and Himalayan sea salt lending a mouthwatering quality to the long finish.
Field Recordings
Orange Boxie Central Coast NV
$49 | 3L
Firm and focused, with aromas and flavors befitting its color, including clove, wild honey and orange bitters, with additional layers of papaya and dried pineapple. Chenin Blanc, Malvasia Bianca, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Vermentino, Trousseau Gris, Albariño, Sémillon, Verdelho, Picpoul Blanc, Colombard and Gros Manseng.
Field Recordings
White Boxie Central Coast NV
$49 | 3L
This offers a subtle honey tone to its smooth-textured core of poached quince and apple, with ripe melon and matcha notes filling out the finish. Chardonnay, Xarel-lo, Melon and Trousseau Gris.
Juliet
Cabernet Sauvignon California 2023
$35 | 1.5L
This is a lithe and perfumed offering, featuring floral Bing cherry, blackberry, and fresh fig flavors that deliver moderate richness, with herbal tea and toasted cumin seed notes filling out the finish.
Linne Calado
LC Red Paso Robles Willow Creek District 2023
$160 | 3L
The combination of fresh acidity and tannic grip gives this blend a distinctive personality, with wild strawberry and huckleberry flavors laced with peppercorn and sage details, while the acidity drives the finish. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
My Favorite Neighbor
Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2023
$150 | 3L
There’s a good dose of oak here, but it doesn’t get in the way of the rich and ripe core of plum and berries, which have nice density and chew to them. Hints of cedar and spice fill out the finish around ripe, supple tannins.
Nomadica
White California NV
$50 | 3L
Subtle floral and lemon cream notes pave the way for this crisp style featuring citrus, apple, and pineapple flavors that are balanced by subtler, richer tones of honeydew and vanilla, providing a nice mouth-filling quality to the finish.
Tablas Creek
Patelin de Tablas Blanc Paso Robles 2024
$105 | 3L
Bright and aromatic, with abundant spice notes that mix with floral pear, apple, and apple skin aromas and flavors on a fresh frame, layered with citrus, subtle almond skin undertones, and hints of minerality. Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Vermentino, and Picpoul Blanc
Tablas Creek
Patelin de Tablas Rosé Paso Robles 2024
$105 | 3L
Pale in color, with aromas of honeysuckle, watermelon rind, shiso leaf, and wet stones, this wine boasts a crisp and clean palate of Rainer cherry, apricot, and subtle citrus notes, finishing clean and refreshing. Grenache, Mourvèdre, Counoise and Vermentino.
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