Eco-friendlier wines for Labor Day

CNN recommends several boxed wines for the holiday weekend. Are the boxes the only eco-friendly thing about them?

Tue, Aug 31 2010 at 7:53 AM EST

Photo: ralphunden/Flickr

I have reviewed a few wines in alternative packaging, but I’ve never bought alternatively packaged wine before. My husband came home with a box of Shiraz about a week ago because he thought it was time we gave it a shot. While I won’t be buying that particular box again because I didn’t like it, I do realize that the quality of some boxed wines have come a long way. I’m willing to try some more.

CNN did a piece on reasonably priced wines in boxes and Tetra Paks for the upcoming Labor Day weekend. I thought I’d check out each of the wines’ websites to see if there was anything besides the packaging that is eco-friendly about these wines. Sometimes, wineries use sustainable methods, but they don’t advertise that fact on the packaging.

Check out the video, and then take a look at what I learned about the wines from their websites.

Bandit Cabernet Sauvignon by Three Thieves: There is nothing on the Bandit website that indicates that anything other than the packaging is eco-friendly about this wine. Their eco-smart cartons page is worth a look for the explanation of why the Tetra Pak carton is eco-friendlier than glass.

Powers Cabernet Sauvignon: This box holds three liters of wine, the equivalent of four bottles. The bag in the box compresses as wine is poured, and since no air comes in contact with the wine, the wine stays fresh for weeks. The company website specifically points out that Powers is a non-organic wine and provides no other information on how the grapes are grown or harvested.

Yellow + Blue Torrentes: Yellow + Blue is green wine (Get it? Yellow plus blue = green.) The wines are USDA certified organic in a Tetra Pak, and according to their website, all of their green efforts make this wine have a carbon footprint that is 54 percent less than the average wine.

Big House Red: If there is information on this site about the sustainability practices of this wine, I couldn’t find it. It’s a very confusing site that’s is not friendly to navigate at all.

DeLoach Home Wine Barrel: Here we go. The packaging doesn’t seem to say anything about the sustainable practices of this winery, but the website says that the wine is certified organic by CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers), and the winery practices biodynamic farming. I love the refillable barrel idea — perfect for parties. CNN says it will be released Sept. 1, but I don’t see any product ordering information on their website yet.

Have you tried any of these wines? Let us know what you thought of them in the comments.

MNN homepage photo: Bandit Wines