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Bag in a Box
Whole Foods Market Wine shop - Upper West Side
Tasted July 1, 2010 by Omar Khayyam with 538 views
Introduction
Great idea: compare and contrast bag in box wines. The null hypothesis is that there are no major differences between wines at this price point and with this type of packaging... yeah, right!
Flight 1 (14 notes)
White
2009 Yellow + Blue Torrontés
72 points
Sweet floral nose with something vaguely industrial about it - like the "natural flavors" of cheap soda pop. Mediocre palate and finish.
Rosé
2009 Viñas de Alto Salvador Alicante Yellow & Blue
79 points
Monastrell and Syrah blend: strawberries on the nose with some pleasant dry feel on the palate with a bit of spice and smoke on the finish.
Red
2008 Viñas de Alto Salvador Malbec Yellow & Blue
74 points
Interesting: vendor claims there is no oak. Perhaps: it still has some extraction and tannins. Very fruity - dark raspberries and cherries. Not bad though. But a rather monochrome experience.
White
2009 Domaine de la Patience Chardonnay Coteaux du Pont du Gard Blanc
66 points
off taste: I tried with negociant (bag in box from "wine from the tank") who denied there was anything wrong with this. Soap and lawn maker oil on wet grass. I am guessing the winery off-loaded some bulk. This TN may not be valid for the domaine bottled version.
Rosé
N.V. Comptoirs de Magdala Mont Caume Rosé
72 points
Almost translucent in colour as well as in taste. If one could make wine from watermelon, this would be a good specimen. I was lucky to have a chance to try this as I had already bought a box which sits in the fridge, on the recommendation of some serious looking wine dude (appearance is not all) at Astor wine and spirits. It was swiftly designated for something other than drinking at a dinner.
Red
N.V. Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Côtes du Rhône From the Tank - Vin Rouge
76 points
Simple and fruit forward: one can do better among the CdRhones even at this price range (USD 37 for bag in box = USD 9.99/bottle or something in that vicinity I would guess)
White
2009 Black Box Chardonnay
76 points
Simple but correct: chard for a very good price (17 bucks for a bag in box = 4 bottles). if you're hosting a thousand guests and have a lot of carafes...
White
2008 Fisheye Chardonnay
75 points
Lemon meringue pie; cashew nut ice cream, baked apples. This is an industrial style cali (could have been aussie) chard. And it was actually one of the better performers at the tasting.
Red
N.V. Fisheye Shiraz
63 points
Undrinkable. Fat rancid butter and day old sun-melted cheap vanilla ice cream. Sour and horrible. Look the other way. Shame on the people who made the wine and sold it to someone.
Red
2008 Three Thieves Cabernet Sauvignon Bandit
68 points
Black currant juice with cleaning agent tannins and alcohol to the rim.
Red
Closing
Wow: not too many ok wines here. I must say that the Swedish market is more advanced in this regard - you can't sell the kind of engine fuel that people were peddling straight faced at this tasting, even in a bag, in a box.
The winners: rose from spain and france, cheap cali chards (at least they were correct and drinkable, if a bit non-descriptive).