Boxed Wine...

I always thought of boxed wine as poor man's, pseudo-alcoholic's version of vodka. I had no reason to think that nor had I had ever tried wine in a box. A few people mentioned that it was good, but for people sophisticated like myself, there was just no way. Then I heard a program on our local radio talking about sophisticated wine drinkers and all I could think is, I am an ass.


I had one Greek co-worker 10 years ago explain a couple techniques of tasting wine and I thought I was sophisticated. But on the radio they talked about how "real" wine enthusiast can tell you the wood that the wine is aged in and some of the make up of the landscape. Now that is some REAL appreciation.


So being humbled and humiliated (albeit while alone and no one caring about my wine snobbery), all inhibition was lost. Alcohol is expensive in Australia. Very expensive. Wine is the cheapest alcohol by far. So when I went into my local Woolie's Bootleshop and saw boxed wine at $10 for a box, I thought "What the hell, I will give it a shot." Interestingly my "sophisticated" palate did not distinguish much difference. Damn. I am not as upity as I had thought. Oh well, I guess my wine just got cheaper...