Boxed/Budget Wine suggestions?

sailing fan wrote in news:Voprc.5504$ snipped-for-privacy@news01.roc.ny:

I would not touch anything resembling a European wine name from a US producer Blush Chablis!?! not in any stretch Chablis is made from white grapes for goodness sake. The so called mountain burgundy may be an exception, i actually drank that stuff once.

French Colombard? please, no

I would try offering a small but better selection (when I go to non wine drining places I look for a few not bad wines rather than a selection of dreck. Non wine drinkers don't really care so . .

a fair Chianti Try for a cheap but really Italian one like Placido a fair Chard. a fair Cab. S. a fair Merlot a white zin because that is what you will sell the Chenin because I am always hopefull for a cheap drinkable chenin.

I truly believe that you will not hurt yourself and may actually get some real wine drinkers if you slowly tweak in some "real" wines.

I think that after you have had two or three of those 1.5L bottles sitting around open for a week, you will realize the value of the boxes.

There are better boxes available. You might look at what the Australians offer.

Up a bit in price, but Hardy's (Australia) has some 3 liter box wines that will keep well, and taste considerably better than anything you have listed. We do use the Almaden Rhine for cooking, and the Red Sangria for a low price drinking wine, but the Hardy is much better. In SE Virginia, it goes for about $14 to 15 for 3 liters. The Almaden Cab was so bad that we trashed the rest of it after a few sips from the first glass. From what you describe, I'd leave off the bottled 1.5 and 3 liter (since it won't keep well after opening), and maybe keep a modest selection of 750ml and even a few 375ml wines in a bit better category - to be sold by the bottle to any of your customers that want something a bit better. I've also seen another 3 liter boxed wine on this forum, but not found it locally, that people spoke well of. Can't remember the name right now, maybe someone elxe will pop in with a recommendation.

Jim

USA, small town between Albany and NYC.

Thanks to all for the advice... I have heard that uncorked (or uncapped) wines have a lifespan of just a few days.

I was told by a person I know the a brand called Vendange comes in 750 ml (most varieties) and 1.5 l (all varieties), and is very cheap, but "OK" for wine that runs about $5-8 a bottle. I guess the advantage of the boxed products are they are air tight and the wine will keep better. Another boxed brand I was told of is Franzia, which I guess is bottom of the line as well. Thanks!

Nice area up there. I lived in Rochester for a couple years back in early

80's and used to vacation north of Albany at a dude ranch.

Wish you best of luck.

As others have noted, if you're serving over several days, Bag-in-Box better option than bottles.

Why have a 1/2 dozen choices with names that don't mean a thing? I'll try to hold back my winegeekiness, and offer a sensible plan:

1) pick one house red and one house white (a box of Merlot and a box of Sauvignon Blanc?). Price as you have now. 2)Then have a house "premium" wine - an Australian red, and a white- the Brocard "Jurassic" Chardonnay is available someplaces in 3L BiB. At $4 or 5 a glass you still make a handsome profit,and maybe benefit from an impression of class. 3) Get some 750s of some decent wines -2 reds and 2 whites- for variety. You pay $7 each, sell for $15-18.If you sell 1 bottle a week, in a year you sell your case of each (which you stored in a cool place!)and help your rep.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Remembered the name: Black Box wines of California, their website is

I've heard good reports on them, but haven't found them in my area. Jim

Very sound advice. There is a certain element that seems to be fine with the boxed Gallo wines.

I think the boxed wine will remain for a while. Their inventory records show they purchase seven different types and while some types seem to take 2-3 weeks to sell a single box they also sell about 40 liters of White Zin every month, about 50% of the total wine sales. I don't know how much ends up as "waste". If a box was opened, I would suspect that it is going to have to be dumped in a week if not finished. If that is not a policy, it will be when we take over.

We've decided to have a "wine tasting" at home with some friends and family. None are exactly wine drinkers, but we figure we're going to test Peter Vella vs. Almaden to see who has the better box in a simplified list of what is already served:

Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Chardonnay White Zinfandel

I suspect we will make our merchant nuts. We'll probably buy one case of four boxes for everything but the Zin, which we'll probably end up buying two cases of per month. That's 72 liters of wine, slightly less than what they get now. I know he carries "several" hundred varieties. The seller told us for a while they were offering Sutter Home in 187 ml bottles, but even at $3.50, a bottle they sold poorly. He does keep a case of cheap Andre Extra Dry on hand, from time to time he sells a bottle for $9. He offers a free champagne toast on New Year's Eve, which this is perfect for. Inventory records show he purchased two cases in 2003 and none in 2004 so far. What scares me the most is selling a single glass for $4 out of a $15 bottle and then two days later dumping it. I believe there is a market for wine drinkers, haven't quite yet how to grab their attention... My initial thought in this wine called Vendange, which is a cheap varietal, is probably a step above boxed wines. My feeling is crawl before I walk or run.

Peter

Dale Williams wrote:

One more suggestion. Everyone knows the Gallo name and most hate it. They drink it because of price. If you switched to some lesser known name (like Black Box or some Australian brand) it would give the illusion that you are offering a better wine than the very bottom.

I know White Zinfandel sells and you have to keep it, but add a Sauvignon Blanc for people that like wine.