Octavin, the latest & greatest in box wine design

[Roy Hersh]

I like this concept. 3 liter. Nice spiggot for pouring. Price seems right and the packaging, unique and somewhat attractive.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/wine ... blogid=721

What do you think?

[Glenn E.]

What do you think?

Just another box to me.

Mind you, I have no problem with box wines and I wish we could get Port (reserve level) in boxes, but hype is hype. An octagonal box is no different than a square box to me.

Oh, and "takes up less space on the shelf?" I assume he's comparing it to bottles, because that's a false statement compared to retangular boxes.

[Peter W. Meek]

Just finished an Octavin of Boho 2008 "Old Vine Zinfandel" (3L). You have to do some tipping and finally opening the box and wringing out the bag to get the last few ounces out of it. BTW, the wine was pretty good for $6 a bottle. I'd buy it again.

As to size, this 4-bottle container was about the size of a fat (5" octagon) 750 bottle. According to the blurb on the box 55% less carbon footprint and 92% less landfill footprint than 4 glass bottles. As someone who takes a couple of hundred bottles to recycling every few months, I'd say it was an improvement for everyday sit-and watch-a-movie wine.

Easy to grip finger slot in the top. Way more convenient than the cube boxes I've seen before. It's true that rectangular/square boxes pack more efficiently, but most of those I've seen are short stubby things and take up more shelf space than the bottle-height Octavin.

Downside is that you don't get the consumption feedback: "Oh, that bottle is gone; maybe it's time to give it up for the day." Tough on triple-feature watchers. You also need to put it on the edge of a sink or counter or make some kind of a platform or pedestal for it so you can get the glass under the spigot.

[Roy Hersh]

I'd still rather have a spiggot than the old box wine method of dispensing the liquid. Someday we will see a decent Port-in-a-box.