The New Wine "Bottles"

The days of grabbing a bottle off the $12-and-under table are gone; choosing a wine just got a little more complicated. Now you can consider buying a keg of wine to bring to a party, or a giant box (it's classy now), or vino in cans. Just when you thought you’d come to terms with screw-top wine (common and reputable nowadays), vino packaging has undergone yet another makeover. Meet the newcomers.

 

Photo: Isaac74/iStock

Cans of wine, particularly Underwood's typography-driven quartet of offerings, are ubiquitous this summer. But Kimberly Prokoshyn, head sommelier of New York City restaurant Rebelle, loves Fiction, from Field Recordings, "a juicy red wine in a can" that would be ideal, she says, for a barbecue.

 

Photo by David Reamer

"There are a number of good arguments for kegs," says Liz Martinez, sommelier at Chicago's The Purple Pig. "[They] protect the product, providing the guest with a pristine wine to enjoy. Kegs are easy to transport, and easy to store. Lastly, and clearly not the least, is their ability to lower the carbon footprint." During grilling season, Martinez likes Bieler Pere et Fils rosé, "a lovely little wine from Coteaux d'Aix en Provence in southern France."

"Boxed" wine is more often than not bagged wine, with the bag hidden inside the box. (Industry insiders call this "bag-in-box," or "BIB" for short.) Prokoshyn is partial to the eye-catching five-liter box of Verez Cuvée des Dames, "a classic Provence rosé."