Toronto wine writer gives Tetra Pak wines at the LCBO thumbs-down

I've steered clear of tetra pak wines until now, not because I had any way of knowing what was inside, but because at a visceral level I found the packaging and the invariable marketing angles that go along with it rather crass and kitschy, and not befitting the image that wine has in my mind. There is something overly utilitarian about these cardboard vessels that precludes the elegant poise of a classic wine bottle. In any case, it appears that I haven't been missing anything all along ...

Tetra Paks by Alan McGinty

I had a couple of Tetra-Pak wines in Oregon recently, both whites, that were terrific, and very nicely priced.

[Robin Garr]

at a visceral level I found the packaging and the invariable marketing angles that go along with it rather crass and kitschy, and not befitting the image that wine has in my mind.

Serious question, Paul: How would you respond if one of us made a similar remark about hybrid and labrusca wines? That would certainly be an equally rational opinion.

the elegant poise of a classic wine bottle.

Can you explain what you mean by "elegant poise" as it applies to bottles?

Robin, I would respond by saying that all the tetra pak wines which he rated were made from vinifera, so there ...

Elegant poise - I can't imagine placing a beautiful - sarcasm alert - tetra pak on my dinner table when having guests over. Can you?

[David M. Bueker]

Some decent, mass-market wines are showing up in these packages. While htey are nothing I would buy it is good to see another way to make wine more accessible.

A bottle is just a package. A cork is just a sealing device.

I've steered clear of tetra pak wines until now [snip] because at a visceral level I found the packaging and the invariable marketing angles that go along with it rather crass and kitschy, and not befitting the image that wine has in my mind.

There's a good amount in the world of wine marketing that I could go without, so I totally understand your opinion on that, Paul. But I wonder if tetra pak wines couldn't offer something that other wine packagings don't--mainly the ability to spread out the consumption of wine according to the desires of the consumer, rather than according to the oxidation schedule of the wine once it has been opened. I think it would be great if a respectable producer would put a decent wine intended for immediate consumption in a tetra pak, rather than leaving tetra paks to the less-than-respectable usual suspects. There's a lot of folks who would probably love to just have a glass at home for dinner once or twice a week, but right now are poorly served by the choices of either generally poor quality wine in a container that works for them or a bottle of decent stuff that they won't care to finish before it oxidizes. But then again, perhaps if the freezing option were more widely known, (I never heard of it before joining this forum), their problem would have a solution!

I don't long for tetra-pak wines, because I love variety and matching wines with dinner. But if I wanted a "house wine" where I had a glass every night or two, tetra-pak is clearly the best packaging option. The problem is generally what is packaged. Someone - I think Hoke - said that the Brocard Kimmeridgien Bourgogne and its brother (what is it- Jurassic?) are now in 3L boxes. That would be worth buyig for a party.

I think tetrapak wines have their place - great for backpackers, the picnic, and so forth, but the only tetrapak wines I have seen did not have quality wine within (an insipid white and a sweet, boiled lolly red) - and got my thumbs down for that reason - and that reason alone. If they did have decent wine, they could have been given 'poise' by pouring into a decent glass - or into a carafe for serving at the table.
BTW, the only ones I've seen have been individual-sized packs - about 250 ml.
Cheers,
Sue
PS - it works for fruit juice, it works for chicken stock, so why not wine? I'd be interested to know if there is a 'use by' date on the carton?

Robin, I would respond by saying that all the tetra pak wines which he rated were made from vinifera, so there ...

Elegant poise - I can't imagine placing a beautiful - sarcasm alert - tetra pak on my dinner table when having guests over. Can you?

But, Paul, how would you feel if they marketed tetra-paks of labrusca and hybrid wines...and they became a big hit in the market, resulting in more attention focused on the delights of said wines and bringing a renaissance to the world of wine?

What if tetra-paks simply meant more people would be willing to try labrusca or hybrid wines, thereby exposing more people to said wines?

And if you're worried about poise and elegance...buy a decanter. Make it a crystal decanter.

But, Paul, how would you feel if they marketed tetra-paks of labrusca and hybrid wines...and they became a big hit in the market, resulting in more attention focused on the delights of said wines and bringing a renaissance to the world of wine?

What if tetra-paks simply meant more people would be willing to try labrusca or hybrid wines, thereby exposing more people to said wines?

If we employ parallel reasoning to the White Zin phenomenon, then in theory I guess it could be a good thing. There's really a simple answer to it all, though, and that's ensuring that whatever wines are put in alternative packaging be of a certain level of fruit/winemaking quality and not the subject of a simple marketing strategy. Personally? I don't care for the look of a tetra pak, but if I'm going camping, I might reconsider ... At present, though, the insipid offerings that the LCBO is selling don't inspire me at least to start buying any.

If we employ parallel reasoning to the White Zin phenomenon, then in theory I guess it could be a good thing.

Ah, but would it be a good thing?

I still firmly believe the problem of labrusca and hybrids is firmly based on what the East Coast industry was several years ago, before the advent of the West Coast, Paul.

Back then there was quite a bit of wine produced in the Niagara and Ohio River Valley quadrant. Almost all of it was jug wine. Sweet jug wine, with varying colors. The family I married into in Wisconsin, for instance, regularly drank Meier's Catawba, in either White, Red or Pink (didn't seem to be much difference in the three, as they were all sweet and sticky and funky). Bought it in case quantities. Drank it all the time; it was a part of life for them.

It was really the White Zinfandel of the day, before White Zinfandel was even known.

Trouble is....when the West Coast began to thrive, and the varietal craze started, and the desire for drier wines established itself, that area didn't change.

I remember quite well when I was in the Southwest area of the US, as late as the early 80s, Niagara/Ohio wines were still prevalent. Right along with the Gallo, and Inglenook Navalle and even Italian Swiss Colony. People changed, and moved on. The wines from that area didn't...or at least, if they did, they didn't communicate it successfully.

I know you like to decry marketing strategies---but the weakness of the wines you love is primarily due to a poor and poorly executed marketing strategy (and that's not a slam on your beloved wines, Paul, so don't take it as such; it's a slam on the way they've tried to 'go to market'. I could cite other wines/other areas in the same way.)

Case in point: WA had a great marketing strategy. TX, at the same time, couldn't get it together. Result: WA is strong. Texas isn't.

That's when they dropped out of the market.

It makes for an interesting discussion - though I confess that the minutiae of marketing strategies and their subsequent influences in the total picture of a given style of wine (adding to that changing/unforseen consumer tastes and other trends/events in history) haven't caught my focus traditionally. I did find it interesting how White Zin was said to have kept Zin vines in production that later went on to provide fruit for venerable, old-vines iterations of the red version of Zinfandel. I'm not sure that labrusca, for example, doesn't need a complete redefinition in the eyes of the wine world - a very poignant break with past practices - before it can shed the image of indifferent industrial/jug wines, since the stigma from those wines has been pretty strong. As you know, I am fully of the opinion that when a different kind of thinking is applied to these grapes and the wines are made with an eye to purity of expression, bespeaking vibrancy instead of dullness masked over by a syrupy texture, then they will gain attention. And who knows - maybe some of those new-generation labrusca wines known for their vibrancy and bold, grapey flavours might just make it into tetra paks