Quality and consumption of box wines are up

They're perfect for picnics and vacation

If you're looking for bargain prices, convenience and packability -- especially in what you're taking to the beach or on vacation -- the box has it all over bottles.

In the wine industry, the category is called "bag in box," or less appetizingly, "bladder wines," for the squishy silver bags inside. While they're still a small percentage of wine purchases -- about 1% -- sales are growing rapidly, up 41% in the last year, according to ACNielsen Co.

And yes, quality is improving. A new category, "premium bag-in-box," is selling for as high as $24.99, made with juice from well-known California wineries.

What are the advantages to a box with a spigot? Consider:

Convenience. Glass breaks, corks fail. The boxes use a spigot to draw wine from a collapsible bag, keeping air out. Most box wines claim to keep up to a month after opening. A single wine drinker can have a glass at dinner a couple of times a week without opening a bottle that would keep only a day or two.

The popular 3-liter size holds the equivalent of four bottles but takes about the same amount of refrigerator space as a gallon of milk, while 1.5-liter boxes hold two bottles in something the size of a tissue box.

Economy. Bargains drive wine trends -- look at Trader Joe's popular Charles Shaw wines for $2 to $3. Do the math and box wine prices can be impressive. Since boxes are cheaper to make and fill than bottles with corks, box wines usually cost at least $1 less per bottle.

Aside from the premium boxes, which are $19.99 to $24.99 at Total Wine & More in Charlotte, N.C., most 3-liter boxes are $9.99 to $13.59, which works out to $2.50 to $3.40 a bottle.

Environmentalism. Want to turn your wine green? The Wine Group of San Francisco, which owns brands such as Franzia and Glen Ellen, claims boxes generate 85% less landfill waste and 55% fewer carbon emissions. A truck hauling heavy bottles burns more gas than a truck filled with lighter boxes. And the box can be stomped flat when it's empty.

Now, to the disadvantages.

First, there's fashion. It used to be that nothing told your guests "I'm cheap" faster than a cardboard box at a party. But that's changing.

Target's Wine Cube line comes in tastefully colored boxes with optional accessories, such as BYO nylon carriers.

And then there's quality.

Has quality improved with interest? We lined up a blind testing with Catherine Rabb, a Johnson & Wales University instructor who writes a wine column for the Charlotte Observer. We focused on white wines worth taking along to the beach or the lake. Boat trips and days by the pool are where the box advantage -- no glass to break -- really shows up. And boxes fit nicely in the small refrigerators in cabins and rental kitchenettes.

We rounded up seven contenders: Wine Cube's pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay; Franzia Vintner Select Chardonnay (the only 5-liter box tested); Hardys Chardonnay; Pacific Peak Pinot Grigio, and Corbett Canyon's Pinot Grigio/Chenin Blanc blend.

We took them to Fenwick's on Providence -- the restaurant Rabb owns with her husband, Don -- and set up numbered glasses. Don Rabb poured, so we couldn't see what was in each glass. The wines were tasted at room temperature, so flaws wouldn't be masked by chilling.

The surprise? Overall, these were pretty good. Not great. Only one struck us as really flawed. The others were simple but not offensive.

"If you chill these, they wouldn't be bad at all," Rabb said. "Which is maybe what you're looking for in a $2.50 bottle of wine."

Maybe the boxes won't turn out to be just for squares after all.