Aussie rebel liberated wine from glass prison

As friends start heading to the parks for picnics – a handy box of wine in tow – they might think of toasting a man named Tom Angove.

When the winemaker died in a nursing home on Tuesday at the age of 92, few newspapers outside of his native Australia marked his passing.

Yet Angove was responsible for something most could recognize: the wine cask, or boxed wine. Invented in 1965, it provided a low-rent yet innovative way of packing wine without risking broken glass, and spread around the world.

Though seemingly insignificant, the invention revolutionized the wine market and changed the way many people drink. Rather than travelling with a corkscrew, oenophiles could now open a resealable plastic bag inside a cardboard box. A tab added later allowed drinkers to tap the bottom of the cask, allowing easy access to family-size tanks of vino.

Though sophisticated wine lovers have turned up their noses at the down-market packaging, wine-in-a-box became a populist way to enjoy a connoisseur's tipple. It turned into a staple for college mixers and house parties. Many who were normally daunted by the bottle tried the box. It may have been ugly, but it was user-friendly.

In 2008, Italy's Agriculture Ministry allowed wines that receive the government's quality assurance label to be sold in boxes, giving it connoisseur cred. Those in the know whispered that it was fine for wines that didn't need to be aged – most of them, in other words. It picked up a green image as well, as it uses less packaging per litre.

"And hardly a fridge in the south of France, especially this time of year, is complete without a box of rosé," wine expert Tyler Colman wrote reassuringly in a 2008 New York Times column.

"I do remember when I was about 15 and (my father) brought home a prototype and I said to him: `That's ridiculous, nobody is going to buy wine out of a cardboard box and a plastic bag,'" said Angove's son Tom, now the managing director of Angove Wines, in an interview with Adelaide Now.

"But he persevered, didn't listen to me and he was determined. He had a very broad vision."

Angove, was the grandson of Angove Family Winemakers founder William Angove, and also pioneered the use of stainless steel storage tanks.

"He was obviously quite an innovator," said Stephen Strachan, Winemakers' Federation of Australia chief executive, in an interview with The Australian.