Welcome back to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Jonah, I work for the communications Department. Hey, I'm Pat. We're talking about wine today, and these guys rely heavily on me on these wine episodes. So go ahead and lean on me today, guys. I'm here to answer all your wine questions. That's the big old dummy in the room. I'm Greg, I do communications at Binny's. Roger, beer, box wine fan. Well, that's a spoiler alert. Big fan of long drink too. You left out a long drink. Long drink. Well, today, we are talking about box wine. Why? Because it's great. Really? It's really great. Shut the front door. It's actually becoming a lot more popular for a few reasons. One, it became really popular in the pandemic because, well, everyone was at home and they needed copious amounts to drink for cheap. But it's also very environmentally friendly, so we're going to go into a little bit of that and why that is. And then I'm going to make these guys blind taste three reds and three whites in the opposite order of what I just said. And I'm going to make them try to guess what's what. So we're going to have- Hold on a second. You're making these guys blind taste wine, which they're already woefully unprepared for. Yes. From a box. Yeah, the curve ball is it's from a box. Do we get to wheeze the juice out of the box? Yes. Well, we'll play slap the bag after this. Slap the bag. The Binny's episode. I actually broke my foot after playing slap the bag in college. I'm not surprised at all. No, you shouldn't be. And it was Fransia Whites Inn. Fransia Whites Inn? Yeah. And I stepped out of the back door of the house, so maybe like a four foot drop, and I fell into a pile of snow, and the next morning my foot was broken. It's a great time. That is relatable. I walked all the way to my dorm on the broken foot too. I was so proud of myself. I mean, you're pretty numbed up by that Fransia. I mean, I think I crawled into the elevator, but it's fine. I made it home. No, I have a similar story about a Halloween party and a hole in someone's yard and at least three bottles of 120 minute. Oh, maybe they had buried their old school barley wine in that hole and didn't properly fill it back in after they dug it out. I wasn't spending my Halloween with nerds. So maybe not that Halloween, but somebody at one of those parties dressed up like a Fransia box, and she had the spigot and it was functional. Did you play slap the bag? That joke happened a lot. Anywho. Anyway. So one box is going to be from a, or one wine is going to be from a five liter box, then the other two will be from three liters and one is imported. You guys, that's a huge context clue. Yeah. Can we talk about aging potential on three versus five liters when in a box? Pat, okay. The Nebuchadnezzar bag. Yeah. Well, the Methuselah comes to term much sooner. When was the last time you guys had boxed wine? Oh, my. It's been like a decade. I can't, I, oof. Jenna says it's getting popular. Sounds like not with you. Not in such a long time. And really, it would make so much sense to have it just on hand to keep it in the fridge. I know people that buy black box equipment. I know plenty of people. We sell it on a boxed wine. I'm just asking you guys personally, the last time I tried it at a wine tasting, probably when I was like the assistant manager at Schomburg or something in 2009. I think for me, it was like three summers ago, I had a Bottle Box Rosé in my fridge. Box wine was invented by a man named Thomas Ingrove, winemaker from Australia. It wasn't Bill Box? It was not Bill Box. What the hell? I know. Let's just quit now. Everyone go home. So this was, he penned it in 1965, but it was based off an existing design for a product used by Mechanics, which was a bag in a box to transport battery acid. And I thought we would all find that fact very interesting. I thought we would appreciate that. Hey, if it's good enough for battery acid. Hey, this looks like something we could really get drunk on. You could really put some Chardonnay in there. So, you know, it won't leak. Yeah. Won't eat through the plastic. So originally, you had to cut the corner of the bag or bladder off and then reseal it with a special peg. But in 1967, they came up with the new patented design that we're all familiar with today, which is like a plastic nozzle. Nozzle. Nozzle. Plastic. Do you think they were doing this longer than we know? And they might have used like a pig bladder or something to store wine back in- Like Little House on the Prairie or something. Wine bladders were a thing for ages. Yeah. And something that I was actually going to touch on, like that's a great segue, actually, Pat. Little House on the Prairie? Because at the time, it started to replace what was in the market, flagons, which were like plastic or glass or metal. It's one of Roger's preferred drinking vessels. Yeah. I mean, we've all seen him in medieval cartoons. That's the thing that looks like a lung, right? Yes. Yeah, basically. They're big at medieval or Renaissance fairs, right? Yeah, I'm sure they are. Yeah. And these were very popular and still are very popular in Australia due to being the much more affordable option, if you're familiar with Australia's alcohol market. Drinking problems. Yeah. Drinking problems and their market. An excessive supply of used sheep bladders. They tax the hell out of their alcohol. And so this allows people to drink a lot for pretty affordable prices. In the 70s, the packaging kind of expanded to other items like water and juices and wine coolers, but never took off in any other market. In 2003, that's when you saw Black Box from Central Coast, California introduced some more premium wine into the market out of a box. And today, it's growing more and more popular, like I mentioned, due to the sustainable packaging. It seems like over the last couple of decades, I've been in this business since about 2002. There was a big push, an explosion of brands around 2005, a whole bunch of different, literally just different labels on probably the same juice, as there were different lifestyle labels. And it just didn't completely take off. And ever since then, it always seems like it's about to. But it makes so much sense. It makes so much sense. It's just a vessel. I think sustainability though, we're talking like cardboard box, fine, but isn't it a single use plastic bag inside a cardboard box? That is bad. Is that much better than a truck driving a whole load of glass around? That's something to think about too, is you get a lot more on one palette, so you have more economical shipments. Okay. Lighter weight. Exactly. I had cited the source from the California carbon footprint report, very official. And it is 60 percent less of a carbon footprint for packaging and distribution than the same wine in a glass 750 milliliter bottle, because you're looking at seven pounds for a three liter versus 11 pounds for a case of. Interesting. A case, and how many liters are in a case? That's nine liters in a case. Yeah. Yeah, because you got to remember, these are three or five liter, so the equivalent in glass would be the weight difference would be a lot different. Yeah. Now, we've seen Bag in a Box with some spirits that have been of just tremendously low quality. I know it's a thing in Belgium with unblended lambics. You can get unblended lambic in a box. Wacky. Because it's still and not carbonated, and it doesn't go through bottle refurmentation. Roger, we're not going to bring up bottle conditioning again. Bag conditioning. Bag conditioning. But yeah, that's the only other stuff I know of, at least in the alcohol side. And some cocktails, some pre-mixed cocktails. Yeah, those Craft House ones in the bag and the box are awesome. Well, I'm sure a lot of people's hang up is just, it was kind of interesting that you brought up the battery as a thing. I think everyone just assumes that like, the alcohol eat the plastic and you'll taste plastic. I think that's probably a lot of people's- Yeah. And in the American market for a long time, it's been associated with cheap, not great quality wine, which is true. There have been a lot of brands out there that are terrible. In Europe, it's much more common. It makes up 44% of their wine sales is bag and box products. So- Did you say 44? 44%, yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's crazy. But they do a lot more quality, higher end wines. Yeah. And they just stick it in their fridge. Bag and box wine, free sunscreen. It's progressive, but it's not weird. Progressive. So the stigma of cheap brands being in the packaging for so long, but also the price is keeping people from diving in, right? Because if you put in a $10 bottle of wine in a 3-liter, then that's like a $40 bucks. Yes. So that people will look at like, so we're going to have some that are a little more pricier today for what we have in our stores. And that is you're looking at, so you already have the assumption that this wine isn't going to be as good as something in a bottle, and then you're looking at a price of say 30 or up, and why would you spend the money on that? But like Roger was saying, you're getting, if it's a three-liter box, you're getting four bottles of wine. The really great example, Tablas Creek earlier this year, and earlier this year, we're in the third month, so about two months ago, they released a three-liter box of their Rosé for $95. That would equal about $25 a bottle, $26 a bottle. Their Rosé on their website is listed for $28, so you're actually saving a few dollars a bottle. And that sold out in four hours, and they have yet to produce more, but that speaks to the want and need, I think, for nicer box wine. Yeah. Tablas Creek especially, they have a following that is deeply rooted in earth-friendly practices. They're biodynamic, they're organic, and they're biodynamic in the way that they have like chickens and goats just wandering around because, you know. That just means you have chickens and goats wandering around. What does that have to do with the vines? It means that it's more than just the façade to get the logo on the bottle, I think is what I'm trying to say. And that the goats poop. Yeah, I mean, who doesn't like that? Yeah. But then you're also getting, so in addition to the more quantity of wine, the larger quantity of wine, excuse me, that you're getting, you're also getting wine that's going to last a lot longer. We talk about aging. obviously, glass is always going to be the preferred way to age wine. There's no question about it. But 95 percent of wine today is being bought and consumed within a matter of days. Most people are not aging a ton of their wine. These box wines can last up to six weeks in your fridge, or if it's a red, if you'd prefer on your counter in a room temp. Room, maybe four to six weeks in that case for a red, versus maybe one week in a bottle, depending on how you're storing that bottle. Or like a day. Or a day. A week? No way. Yeah. Well, so you're saying you can pour yourself a glass of wine. Yeah. You could have one glass of wine a night, and you don't have to worry about that wine going bad for up to six weeks. Or two. Or two. Or a few days. Or a weekend. Yeah, right. Whatever it is. However, I'm not here to judge. An afternoon at the Forest Preserve. Whatever it takes. Yeah, right. I mean, that's probably something that you don't want to admit, but some people probably like the idea of, you know, when you drink wine out of a box, you don't have empty bottles. Did you just drink an entire bottle of wine? No. Do you see any bottles? I have had to take garbage out from my apartment with several empty bottles of wine, and it gets heavy. So, I mean... Yeah, we've all had that embarrassing clanking sound in the alley behind the place. I know that. It's great. Like it's startling the raccoons. That's one of the highlights of this, then, is you don't have to screw around with things like Vacuvin and like, you know, the stoppers and stuff. I think that's... Yeah, it seals itself. It's completely contained all on its own. So all you have to do is just pour it into a glass and keep it in your fridge. Jenna just poured a fat glass of some nondescript white wine. So we're blinding these, we don't know what they are. We have, what, these are the juice carafs, water carafs that you've poured these into? Yeah, and they look like the water carafs you get at IHOP. There you go, somebody stole these from IHOP. There it is. She gave us a clue, she said that one is from a five liter, so we know that five of the six are not Francia. Is Francia the only five liter box? No, sir. That's what I thought. There are others. Yeah, I thought most were until the more premium stuff started coming, right? Am I taking notes on this? I'm torn. If you really want. Okay, so we have a white wine, nose. Smells like pear juice, smells like fruit cocktail. It's pleasant. A little mineral undercurrent. Otherwise, let's call it a shy nose. Apparently. Okay. It's the new subject of today's podcast. All right. Pear, banana, peach. Yep. I like that. Pear for sure. And what does that make it? Pinot grigio? I think it's a Chardonnay. No way. I think it's got to kind of look at and taste it. I mean, the texture, it's got a bit of butteriness to it. It's so acidic. It like punches you in the mouth with. Then I don't know what I'm doing. With flavor. It's flavor punched. You think this is acidic? Doesn't your mouth water like right in your cheeks? Oh, yeah. But my mouth is always watering. Every cheap Pinot grigio I've had has had an acidic bite to the point where it gives me instant heartburn. And that's not the case here. That's true. I want to say that there's a weight. I don't want to sound too insolvent. There's a weight and or flabbiness here. Then maybe that's what makes you think Chardonnay, the way that it feels on the palate. But I don't know if that's what it is or not. What do we think of the quality? That's why I thought it was Chardonnay because of the, I guess, flabbiness. Yeah, I enjoy this. If I was given this and it was slightly chilled, I'd drink it. Yeah, I'd drink it. It's not terrible. It was not blowing my socks off. It's not like that time that Alicia did all those expensive white burgundies for us. But, you know. Yeah, spoiler, none of these are $95 box wines that we're tasting today. There's nothing wrong with this, though. There's no clear flaws. No. If anything, it's just easygoing. Yeah. It'd be great for a party. Making like a white sangria with this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay. That was Franzia Pinot grigio. Was Pinot grigio. Wow. Nice job, Greg. Which is in the interest of true transparency. Their Pinot grigio is blended with Columbard. So that might be that like heavier flabbiness that you guys were thinking was Chardonnay. Columbard is usually pretty acidic though, because it's just, you know, meant for distilling. I still maintain that that was pretty acidic. I defer to you. It tastes more wine than me. But that's $18.99 for a five liter box. So. Hello. That's 6.7 bottles. So that's like about $3. Three bucks a bottle. A bottle. So not bad. Sangria time. Oh no. Once again. Oh no. It's probably better than bottled $3 bottles. Yeah. Got to be. You know? Okay. When did you start to feel old? Mine was when I genuinely contemplated keeping a box of Francia Pinot grigio with my drink. Look out, dragon lady. You got competition. Yeah. Wow. When did this show turn into how to drink on the cheap? Since I've been around, I guess. Okay, number two. Number two. Why are we, look, this is like, this is a healthy pour of wine. Okay, I don't, just on the nose, I don't think this one is as exciting. It's gonna be $35. Yeah, this one's not as, I don't like this one as much. It's heavier, and it seems less fresh, and it seems like almost a tiny bit oxidized, only from the nose, that's all I know. It tastes a little oxidized too. The technology has failed us? That's the whole point. It could be in the wine making part too. And it's very nondescript. It's like white wine flavored white wine. Kind of muted. Yeah. Very muted, yeah. Oh man. Again, not unpleasant, but nothing really jumps out. No, I would take Franzu over this one. I bet this isn't varietally labeled. I bet it's some kind of blend. Oh, you think it's like chill white or crisp and clean or something? Yeah. If I had to guess a specific varietal, like it has a little bit of chardonnay, but it's not like dialed up. It has a little bit of that Riesling quality, but it's not very aptly. It's definitely sweeter. You think so? Yeah. The finish is definitely. The finish, yeah. More honey. Yeah, there's more. I get kiwi, pineapple, honey. Pass. I don't know. This is another Pinot grigio by Gamebox. It's a three liter. It's actually vintage. It's 2020. Vintage dated, you say? Gamebox ones. Gamebox? Does it have like 8-bit graphics on it? It has more. Oh, I don't have it. Is this like tailgate-themed or something? I was thinking gamer. They missed an opportunity. Is this for video gamers? No, I don't know why it's called Gamebox. I probably should have looked into it. It looks more like the packaging looks like those escape rooms. There's just all this mysterious things about it. And it's 1999. There's keys hidden in drawers? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Huh. So this would come to about $7 a bottle. And it's Pinot grigio. It's Pinot grigio. Just Pinot grigio. That's all they have on their box. It just says Pinot grigio. Yeah, but you're allowed to put other stuff in though. Up to 25%. Yeah. Something else. Wow. Would not have guessed Pinot grigio. No. The finish is very reasoning. Right? It's geared at old-timey magicians. Yeah. The perfect drink with friends playing your Ouija board. Game night. It's a very specific crowd that they are marketing to. Yeah, I don't know. I think I might have to stick with the bag slapping Franzia. Yeah. You know I'm a Franzia guy. I'm going to agree with you on that one. Bum, bum, bum, bum. Well, we're motoring through this. Do you have any other fun facts to throw at us while we dump this uninteresting? I don't know if they're fun. I have facts. The overall carbon footprint is 12-29% less than bottled wine. You're looking at 60% less for distributing the wine altogether, but 12-29% just totally, which is a huge, I mean, especially when you consider how much wine is produced in this country, that creates a very big impact on us over time, especially. I think the most amazing thing about box wines, so for years, like we were saying, you'd think of the five-liter ones, which have some substantial size to them, but the three-liter ones are so compact. I mean, they barely take up any room in your fridge either. Yeah, they look like they're the size of a bottle. Yeah. I mean, they're really deceiving. I guess that's one thing to emphasize to the listeners is really look for the size on the box and think about it for a minute. I noticed on some of them, they started putting little logos of the number of bottles of wine. That's smart. In the box, I think that helps. Because people aren't very good at multiplying by 750. Yeah, and they're leaders, we're not big on that whole system here. Summer. Systems within our base 10. What is this in freedom units? Yeah. I need 64ths and 16ths. Pints and quarts, please. In summer, these are great for summer, if you socialize anyway, if you have people over and stuff, or if you just have a drinker in the summer. Spoiler, I don't either. But stacking a couple of these in your fridge would be really convenient for parties and stuff like that. Or just buy a bottle. Yeah, it's all over this, love you, firm box. Three liters equals four bottles. Here are four bottles. They don't even actually type out four bottles though, it's just pictures of bottles to make it really easy for you. Box design brought to you by the guys who made the f***ing computers, so the employees can just push them. We know you can barely read. Here's what's in this box. So, White Wine No. 3, this one actually, this one is acidic. This one has life. That said, it's nondescript white fruit again. A little more on the lemon side, a little more like lemon custard. This one's a little more true to the actual varietal. I bet it's Sauvignon Blanc. I like this. Yeah, it's kind of melony. Yeah, honeydew melon, I think lemon custard was pretty spot on. Yeah, definitely. White pepper on the finish. It actually has this lifted, spirited finish. I kind of want some lemon meringue pie right now. So this one is also Pinot grigio. I'm really surprised you guys didn't catch on to the pattern. Yeah, I was going to say, but then he said Sauvignon Blanc, I was like, oh, now I'll sound like an even bigger idiot if I say Pinot grigio now. But this is the Fulonari Pinot grigio, another three liter. This one is from Italy. This one out of the three was the most true form in my opinion, which I think going back to how this box wines are much more popular in Europe right now. I think you can see the standard quality you would expect from a bottle wine in this one. This one is only cheaper than the Game Boxer. I thought it was more expensive. It's $16.99 for this one. Giddy up. This actually has minerality. I think that's part of it. It has a lot more structure than the other two. That's pretty good. For serious Pinot grigio drinkers, this might be your go-to, but if you're just looking for fun time with fruit cocktail flavored white wine, that frenzy. You may not have heard it, but there was definite contempt in his voice when he said serious Pinot grigio drinkers. I get where you're coming from flavor-wise from the fruit cocktail, but it is worth mentioning. This is the driest of the bunch and it's not a sweet one. Yes. Yeah. This is nice. I like this. This is. I could drink this. For $16.99. For $16.99, yeah. Come on. I would put this in my fridge. That's $4.25 a bottle. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. For four bottles of an easy drinking, and like a good, that's a good one. Yeah, like how overpriced has Santa Margarita gotten now? Yeah. Right. This is really good. I would take it over Santa Margarita. Yeah. All right, ready for some reds? Do we have a choice? No. Okay then. Oh, all right, all right. Just the color here, this looks like a very pale red. Blush? Almost, almost. Looks like red wine. Oh, god, it stinks. Oh, yeah. Why does it smell so bad? Because it's sangria. This stinks though. This has to be sangria. It does not smell good. It's a cherry pomegranate sweet smell. Is it this or is this not Kool-Aid related? Oh, my goodness. Oh, yeah. Jenna, you're pressing your luck here. Okay. This one is definitely the reason why people do not like boxed wine. Oh, my god. Is this, okay, is this selling itself as a serious boxed wine or like, it's too tutti frutti, right? I think it's assy. I mean, this tastes like fruit punch. There's orange and vanilla. Oh, this is disgusting. It's so sweet. It's like a soda. This is a sangria for sure, right? No. What? No, I bet it's something like a hearty burgundy or something like some other silly trade name. There's seven kinds of fruit in Hawaiian punch. This is Peter Vela delicious red. delicious red. But it says somewhere on the box that it's sweet, right? It doesn't say delicious sweet red. Wacky. All right. Well, you know what? Before we just **** on it too much. It does say sweet and fruity. It's sweet and fruity. In the fine print. This is clearly not for a wine drinker's wine drinker. This is for... The person who's buying this knows what they're getting and they like it already. Of all the types of wine, I would have guessed it's Sangria. That's how fruity and sweet it is. Yeah, that would have been a very good guess. That it's not building itself that way. It's a little befuddling to me. They have the Sangria, so I'm curious what their Sangria tastes like now. We better go do the Sangria as a bonus episode. They've white and red. Jim, can you dump that for me? This is hot too. As far away from music. It is. It's boozy. It's spicy meatball. That's for your friend who's never had wine before. This reminds me of going back to college, like Cisco. Well, it's not that high octane, but yes, it's Sweden. Yeah, that was bad. This is like my first wine wine. It's fine. I mean, it's not fine. It's not for us. It's not for us. All right. How much does that cost? That is a whopping $15.99. So that's worth mentioning because look at the difference between the last white we tried and this. Yes. I mean, wow. All right. This next one smells smoky and ashy. It does. I'm wondering how much is the residue of the previous one in my glass because that very prominent. No, you're right though. It smells smoky and ashy. So right off the bat, that would lead me to guess Shiraz or Sira or something like that. But it has a berry flavor and a fruit flavor. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here, cigarette butt smell now that you say. Hushy. Well, it also has a spice, like a game spice. I don't want to go so far as to say Grig because you make it French and that makes it sound too serious. But like a game prep spice. It's got a little sweetness too. Yeah, it does. On the end there. There's something there, some sugar. But it's not, I wouldn't turn it down. This is building itself as Shiraz, right? The Bota Box Red. Bota Box Red. They're revolution. Red volution, excuse me. Red volution? Red volution. That just got worse and worse with every syllable. It's sweet. It is sweet. Yeah, it's sweet for a red blend. But compared to the last one, it's way heavier. It's way darker in the fruit. It still could be confused as a Sangria, but it's not like a lemon juice Sangria. It's like raspberry juice. It has more structure. It has more acid on the end to balance it out a little bit. I wouldn't turn this down if someone handed me a glass, but I don't know that I'd be keeping this one in my house. Yeah. This is the one that you get handed at a rooftop. Yes. Yeah. And Bottle Box is varied. They're the ones that they came out marketing themselves as environmentally friendly. They want you to recycle their packaging. That's why I wanted to choose them because they kind of came out in the forefront of this before it was cool, you know, before everyone else is doing it. And they're $18.99 for a three liter, so not terrible for four bottles, but... I'm thinking that if I buy box wine, I'm going to look for box wine that is labeled varietally. Yes. Yeah, I think that's the lesson to be learned here. This actually, you know what would be interesting to... As this sits, it's getting better, and its smokiness is kind of blown off. I bet you that if we tried this next to that category of like apothec and whatever other hit red blends are in the sub $10 easy drinking red. This is less sweet. You think so? I think so. I bet compared to those, it's positioned itself pretty well. Yeah. And that's the exact drinker that would enjoy this as well. The Menagerie Apothec. Exactly. Yeah. So, yet another it is what it is wine. Jammy. The Mead Boys might like this. You're right, Roger. The jerks who are into $35 Meads would love $8 wine. If they would just grow up and drink $8 wine, they'd be very happy. This is the last of the reds for the blind. Is this VFIRM or is this something else? This is something else. VFIRM, we're not going to blind taste, but we are gonna taste it and compare it to the wine, the juice in the bottle, and see if there's a difference. Okay. Yet more serious, still dark, less of that citrus syrup on the nose, sibilants. Someone smells pretty nice, actually. That's an interesting nose. Oh, I like this one. I like this one. This one's a lot drier compared to the other two. This one actually has some tannins syrup. As dumb as this sounds, it smells more like blandly grapey though. If someone is like, here's what a grape smells like, it just smells grapey. If someone who's never had wine before, you would assume this is what wine smells like. Just a generic overall blanket statement. This is really interesting. It's really dry. Well, compared to what we've had so far, it's really dry and it has tannins. It's the first wine that's actually had tannins. And I bet if we had just finished tasting a Bordeaux, or some Cab Franc from some weird part of France where it's way under-ripe, that this would seem plush by comparison. But after these five fruit balls, this is like, it feels like it's structured. It feels like it has a body. But also, it's like disjointed. And if somebody poured this for you and they said, hey, here's a $25 Bordeaux blend from California. What do you think? You'd be like, well, there's too much fruit, and then the tannins come out of nowhere and they hit you. And it's not an overall cohesive experience. And now I'm wondering if the inexpensive red blend is the way to go with the boxed stuff for the reds because it doesn't have to stay under that price point per bottle. So the juice that you're getting, it's going to be plush and soft and not unfortunately tannic. This one's my favorite because I like unfortunately tannic wines. Well, I guess I just flipped off that for three paragraphs. I like this one. No, but you bring up a really good point about most wine drinkers that, yeah, that would definitely, especially in today's American market for boxed wine, that is absolutely correct. This is by Chateau Maris. Wait, oh, it is? Yes. Our good friends at Chateau Maris. You guys weren't on that one. No. These are the guy who I told him is wine fart. He has wine fart. This is just their Southern French red blend. It's $32.99, so this is definitely, this is the most expensive one we have here at Lincoln Wood, but it comes down to $10.99 a bottle, so that's still really affordable at the end of the day. Most people are spending $10 and up right now on a bottle of wine. It's lacking the house fart character though. I mean, you got to get dinging a few points on that, I suppose. I don't know. Now that you say that, it tastes a little less bad, so that tells you about how perception shapes your tastes and why we do blind tastings. I was a fan. So- Yeah, definitely a fan. I like that one. Not bad. The tannins are pretty aggressive, but maybe that's just because like we said earlier, the other ones are too fruity. Yeah. Yeah. I think who this is marketed to would be a dry red drinker, a French wine drinker. You're looking for that bigger tannic structure and just structure in general in a wine that you're getting from this one compared to the other ones that are definitely much more easygoing party style wines. Yeah. I could see serving this with food, whereas the other two, you're just sitting around drinking wine. Agree. The other two are like you're at a concert that's outdoors. They also wear the badge of earth-friendly and organic. Yes. This is entirely organic. Their winery is made out of soil, sod. Literally, they made the building out of some earth-friendly material. I think sod, yeah. Yeah. We can make our second little House on the Prairie reference in the same episode. Man, the kids are loving that all year. So we have Via Firm. Yes. Which of course is French for the old farm. I think. It's the chicken line. Or the old soil. I like this one. It has a rooster on the label, that's how most people remember it when they ask for it in the store. The wine with the rooster. The bottle that we'll be tasting is Vintage 2019. The box is non-vintage. So just to be clear for everyone. This is quite nice. This is from the bottle. We have the bottle in the glass right now. This is quite nice. You know what? This is perennially known as a great value. It is. What is it like 7.99 a bottle? Yes. That's exactly what it is. The box is 25.99. I've never understood this. They grew the grapes in France. They made the wine. They put it in bottles. They put the bottles in boxes. They put the boxes on pallets. They put the pallets on a truck and then a boat, and then another truck, and somehow it's $8 a bottle. Yeah. It's really juicy, like in a good way. Like it's mouthwatering. I haven't had this one in a while. Yeah. I don't drink that much wine, but we drink this at family parties and stuff. It's a great value. It's a great value. They have a white and a rosé as well that are equally priced and equally as good. Yeah. So there's a robust fruit, but it's dark, like dark cherry, raspberry, not quite to plum. And then there's a chalky kind of earthy character that gives it a little bit more body than your general glass fruit. So that's pretty good. Yeah. The finish is like dark. I get dark plum. Yeah. Juicy, like a very ripe, juicy dark plum. And then like a hint of coffee or like dark chocolate. Yeah. There's some kind of spice or pepper that just kind of sits and lingers at the back of the throat. Is it like rhum grapes? Is that what it is? Yes, I believe so. So what is that, like Grenache and Mouvetter and Syrah? I think I pick up on like a cranberry note to this, like the bitterness, the tart fruitiness. They describe it with a lot of freshness. This rich and spicy wine offers red and black fruit aromas, blackberry, blackcurrant. The palate is beautifully balanced, crunchy with silky tannins and a very long and aromatic finish. It's got to be a GSM blend. Straight from the bottle. South of France. Yeah. So your fish fans will enjoy it. It's crunchy, brah. Okay, that's the bottle. So we all like it from the bottle for eight bucks a bottle. Yeah. And now we have a box of this very same wine. And then I'm literally going to pass it around the box. Oh, we're going to get to wheeze the juice. Jenna's going to slap it. Yes. We're going to get that on video for everyone. Is it too late to admit that I don't know what slap the box is? Slap the bag? Slap the bag is? It's what you just said. It's slap the bag. You take it out of the box. There's no context to it? It's not a drinking game or something? Old man. You take the bag out of the box, someone holds the bag, another person crouches down and spouts in their mouth. So there's no glassware involved? That's key. And holds it down, holds the button down so that they're chugging it, and you just slap the bag to make it come out faster. And then you just chug until you can't chug anymore. That's it. So it's a keg stand, but for a bag of wine. Yeah, it's a fancy keg stand, okay? Give me keg stands all day. Yeah, it's super safe. Don't do this, kids. Okay, so you guys, somebody screwed this up because it is squirting wine, is leaking wine all over the place. You're the only one who struggled pouring a box of wine. My pants has wine. I sat here and watched you pour wine all over your pants. I'm aware of what happened. How do you, I mean, I don't know. You ape. I didn't have any problems. Yeah, okay. I'm okay over here. Please don't deter that or let that deter you from buying it. Definitely tastes different. Definitely tastes different. I mean, the nose is pretty similar. There is a difference. But is that difference because it's box or because it's a three liter versus 750 milliliter? Or is that difference because it's a non-vintage blend, similarly branded? Yeah. Or is that difference because it's a different vintage where maybe it was warmer or a different vintage that has seen an extra year of sitting on the shelf? There's so many variables. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's so many variables, but it's the same label. It's selling itself as the same wine. Yeah. We should have got a three liter bottle. That would have been more of an acumen. So the difference is to me, it seems brighter and more citric. So if Chris was here, he would tell us for real. He would know the chemical breakdown, but I bet that there's a little bit more of like acidity or something like sulfur or something to make it act as a preservative in the three liter. It definitely is more citric. Brighter was the word I was going to use to describe it as well. It's definitely not. I would not use black fruit to describe this. I would use red fruit to describe this one. Yeah. Really would love to know the vintage breakdown or if this is a blend. Roger's really chewing it and contemplating over there. Well, it really still has a lot of structure and character in terms of feeling. A lot of tannin too. Chewy tannin actually is pretty apt. Yeah. I would take this any day over the- what was the- Any of the other reds. The last red, the Maris. I think it's better than the Maris. Yeah. The Maris was pretty good. I think this is better. It is different than the bottle, but I think there's a lot of similarities. I think that the fruit complexity isn't as there in this versus the bottle. So this one's a little more one-dimensional. It's still good though. It's pretty good. Still, yeah. So this one is 25.99. So when you're breaking that down, it is slightly more expensive. It's 8.66 for four bottles versus we have the bottles at 7.99. So it's a little bit more, which is interesting. If it were a little bit less, I would go with the box. Yes. But if it's less for the bottles, I gotta go with the bottles on this one. Even, I mean, it's a small difference, but still it's a difference. Yeah. So, but when you take into consideration the stylistic changes, yeah, I'm going with the bottle. Speaking very broadly, I think the bottle just tastes like a more serious wine. Is that your perception or is that your... Yeah. I guess that's my perception. I think it's more structured. It showed more tannin. It showed more complexity. Yeah, I agree. If I didn't know what these were and they were just side by side, like the bottle is clearly the better of the two wines, is what I would say. I agree. But I don't think it's not like some huge, you know, gulf of a difference, but it's just better. Interesting. You think the bottle is cheaper just because we are Binny's and we offer good prices on things and we have like a really sharp price on this? Yeah, and the bottle is- And we have a pile of it that goes up to the rafters? Yeah, that's something consistently stocked in all of our stores. It's a staple in the wine department. The box just came back in two stores and it's probably not even in all of our stores right now, so that I'm sure plays a part in it. Yeah, definitely. It's kind of odd. It just goes against everything you were emphasizing earlier about like money saving. So it turns out I'm wrong. Don't listen to me. No, I think it's just that. It's just coming in on. All right, well, we've always talked about doing something like this, and now we actually have. And now we remember why we didn't. Yeah, I'm second guessing that blind bottom shelf vodka episode that we're contemplating. Screw you, it's happening. I'm so excited. Please don't. If I learned something today, it's that some of these are okay. Some are not though. Some of this reputation is a little earned. Maybe it's just Pinot grigio, but white seems like a safer bet. Yeah, I agree. Or just straight varietal, like a single varietal over a blend. America has earned their reputation for really bad, crappy box wine because there's a lot of it, but there is a small and growing market and availability of a higher end, then there's potential for better box wine out there, I think, and we're seeing that come to light. And I'm so glad to have tortured you all today with these. Hey, what was the Italian one again? I would buy that. That was the Fulunari. That was a legit one. Yeah, that was a good one. We also have it in 1.5 liter bottles. Oh, there you go. That's taking up too much space. Too heavy. Lifting that glass bottle is so damn heavy, can't slap the bottle. I thought also it was important the way you pointed out the longevity of these things. I mean, that's another thing I think that they do a poor job of emphasizing. That's key. It's key, right? Because you can have a glass or three. You don't have to go in even bottles. You don't have to open a second bottle. It's always there. Yeah. I mean, as a former... Your friends, your family, they might not be there, but this wine in the box... It's always there next to the leftover pizza. It's always there for you. Next to the other dozen eggs. Gross. That was really interesting. Thanks for that line up and it was, as Greg mentioned, some of them were exactly how I thought they'd be, but other ones weren't at all. Well, thanks. Glad you enjoyed. Yeah, we did enjoy. If you enjoyed this, segueing into leave us a review on iTunes and download us on Spotify. Install Spotify and subscribe to us on Spotify too. And leave us stars on Spotify. And leave us stars on Spotify. Five stars. Sweet. And tell your mom. Thanks for listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. We'll be back in your feed next week with something great. Until next time, I'm Greg. I'm Pat. I'm Roger. I'm Jenna. Keep tasting. Keep slappin. Keep slappin. That's wildly inappropriate. On that positive note, hey, you're listening to an... No, f**k it, somebody else do it. I got it in me. Wait, let Jenna do it. Jenna? No, okay. Can I do that?