There was a time when the great debate about wine packaging came down to corks versus screw caps. These days, however, both winemakers and consumers are get-go to call up "inside the box."

Boxed wine, or more specifically, "bagged wine" (due to the plastic bladder inside the box that actually contains the wine) was first introduced by Australian winemakers in the mid-60s. The results can exist summed by Monty Python's "Australian Table Wines" sketch: "This is non a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding."

The world of boxed wines has since changed considerably, thanks to dramatic improvements in packaging and the proliferation of quality winemaking.

"The difference between the two simply comes in the form of the way the vino is packaged," says Kim Moore, Director of Marketing for Black Box Wines. The company has proffered premium wines in vacuum-sealed bags rigged with a spout, and placed in boxes since 2003. Since then, growth has been exponential.

"The make initially launched with a planned 6,000 case product in select regional markets," says Moore. "More x years afterward, we are looking at four meg cases distributed nationally." Credit consumer acceptance of the packaging and increased recognition of value with the ascension of the six-sided tsunami.

Critics have also noticed the tendency. Whereas a decade ago, a premium quality, vintage-dated, varietally-specific boxed wine was not bachelor to the American consumer, now they're receiving accolades at vino competitions.

The stage for such box-born-bows was set four years ago at the Seattle Wine Awards, where the Chocolate-brown Box Wines Riesling took the competition'south highest laurels, the Double Gold Medal in the Riesling, besting xv traditionally bottled entries.

Journalist and sommelier Christopher Sawyer, a gauge for Sunset Magazine's 2014 Sunset International Wine Competition, points out that many vino competitive tastings are blind. "We don't know where our glass came from,' he says. "Nosotros just know that information technology's a wine that we need to gauge. In some cases, there are boxed wines that come out and win silvery and gold medals along with all the bottled wines."

Black Box's Sauvignon Blanc, sourced from Chilean grapes, ranked a argent in its division (New World Whites, Dry Sauvignon Blanc, 2013) and a Bota Box Former Vine Zinfandel scored a bronze (New World Reds, Zinfandel, 2012).

Moore concurs that tasting is believing. "We've received countless stories and photos from consumers who accept hosted their own wine tastings and surprised guests when revealing that they're drinking premium wine from a box," she says.

If you're still nice on the concept of borer the box the next time your glass is empty, Due north Carolina-based Boxxle produces a patent-pending, iii-liter dispenser for boxed vino that finer camouflages the corrugated cube as high-end kitchen hardware.

To operate, merely gut a box of wine, remove the bladder and identify into the device, and then insert your glass and press a push. The spigot is located higher up the glass (which is ameliorate than risking one's stemware at a hard counter edge) and the wine purse is automatically compressed like a toothpaste tube, guaranteeing y'all get every last drop.

Whether you're a jug or box man, Doug Frost, a Master Sommelier and Master of Wine based in Kansas City, points out that, of the two, bag-in-a-box packaging is likewise more eco-friendly. "Bagged wines are lighter to ship than drinking glass bottles and therefore have less impact on the environs," he says. Naturally, both the cardboard box and its plastic innards are recyclable.

Bota Box, whose wine regularly score in the 80s on vino magazine and marketer Wine Enthusiast's 100 point scale, takes the eco-packaging a few more than steps by using soy-based inks and recycled, unbleached cardboard paper products, and forgoes industrial glues for a cornstarch adhesive to keep it all together.

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Ultimately, the biggest advantage of boxed wines is their value. A 3-liter box tin concur the equivalent of four bottle of wine and run about $25. That'southward the equivalent of $6.25 per bottle. For those considering a smaller investment for their outset foray into the box, in that location's a 500 milliliter and single liter sized Bandit Wines Pinot Grigio, which took the Double Gold and Best of Class accolades at the 2015 Jerry Mead International Wine Competition, for nether six bucks.

Sure, it'southward non as low priced as 3 Buck Chuck, simply and so information technology'south also non 3 Buck Chuck. As well, the wine will remain quaffable for half dozen weeks, which is convenient for those who only occasionally require social lube from the cube.

And if you lot're not ready to make the plunge into box wine yet, you can still find some delicious bargains. Here are The sixteen Best Wines for Less than $sixteen.