EcoNOMical: Boxed Wine Review

The second installment of EcoNOMical comes in the form of a review. I consider myself passionate about wine, but not necessarily a wine snob, so I figured I’d try some boxed varietals in the hopes of lowering the cost of my wine habit (without sacrificing enjoyment, of course). A few days ago I cracked open (figuratively – it’s just a metallic seal, similar to what’s on a new toothpaste tube) the Tarzhey brand Wine Cube in Rose, and have some thoughts about it.

(Wine Cube Rose, circa 2017 California)

Verdict: worth the sale price of $15.99 (for the equivalent of four bottles), and probably worth the couple extra bucks (regular price) if you’re a big fan of California rose. My preferences lean more towards Provence/Laguedoc/Cinsault roses, so I found this a bit sweeter than the advertised “medium dry” (granted, there was no “medium” indicated on the slider, but I’d put that dot right in the middle of medium dry/medium sweet) – but totally in line with a drier California rose. It has an interesting flinty minerality (I’m just spitballing here – any relation to actual wine terminology is unintentional) that makes up for most of the extra perceived sugar, and the noted raspberry and watermelon do come through (though, for watermelon that’s more in line with my kind of rose, Mount Gravet is the usual winner). A good chill takes off some of the sweet edge, and the cube fits nicely in the dorm fridge I use for wine. No funky tastes on account of the bag vs a glass bottle (at least not that I can discern). So far (a couple days in) it tastes just like the initial pour, so I am cautiously optimistic this delivery method will preserve at least as long as it would take me to finish the 12-16 pours contained therein.

Will I still buy bottled wines when the mood strikes/they are reasonably priced? Yeah, I am sure I will – but this should render those pricier purchases much fewer and farther between, thus achieving the desired lower per-glass average cost.