This week’s Saturday Swig comes in a box. In an effort to drop the hefty price tag of acclaimed wines, Black Box Wines ditched the bottle in 2003 and became “the first U.S. vintner to offer super-premium, appellation-specific, vintage-dated wines in a box.” The first to hit this blog? A winner of a gold medal in the 2012 San Francisco International Wine Competition - the 2011 Black Box California Riesling !
Yes, that means there will be more Black Box to come. Each box holds the equivalent of four bottles of wine. It stays fresh for four weeks after opening, and the best part - it’s half the carbon footprint of glass bottles.
First, I must admit that I opened the box incorrectly because I didn’t see the directions! The directions are on the bottom of each box, so that’s probably how I missed them the first time around. See, I started out breaking open the box from the top… Oops!
Black Box California Riesling
Four bottles of wine can be a lot for one person in one sitting. I am always up for sharing, so I brought this box on an overnight trip to Santa Cruz with the girls.
After spending a few hours down by the water, we were ready to wind down with a bit of wine at the house. Since it was quite warm out, the chilled Riesling was absolutely refreshing!
Upon first sniff, we definitely caught a lot of citrus [tangerines!] and peach. The wine smelled a lot sweeter than it actually tasted [at least to me], but it is considered off-dry. It’s got a light body and light acidity, so it’s a pleasant fruity wine for a hot day.
The four bottles in the one box somehow survived the night away, and upon returning home, I wanted to enjoy it with a home cooked meal. The suggested pairings in the notes were Thai food, such as chicken satay, and grilled halibut. They were taken into consideration, and Ryan ended up making a sweeter fried chicken with Kara-Age Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix.
For the record, we thought that the pairing worked!
What do you think of boxed wines?
Disclosure: While Black Box Wines sent me wine to review, I was not compensated for this post. All wine-loving opinions are my own.
