For awhile now I’ve wanted to taste for myself whether box wines have come a long way, baby, or if they still deserve their “white trash” label.  In the liquor store today, a fairly large offering of box wines caught my eye and one group in particular stood out: a selection of reds and whites with the familiar illustrations from Big House Wine Company (part of Bonny Doon until 2006).  I grabbed their Usual Suspect Cabernet Sauvignon in an octagonal-shaped  carton called an Octavin.  According to the Vinotrip blog, an Octavin is an elongated box with an octagonal footprint that claims to keep wine fresh for as long as eight weeks. And it’s a good thing, since the three-litre box holds upwards of four standard-sized bottles of wine.

The box has a plastic spigot that easily and reliably dispenses wine with no messy drips once it’s shut off.  And the contents?  I was very pleasantly surprised: not the heaviest Cab I’ve ever tasted, but a very respectable, fruit-forward wine with nice cocoa hints and some moderate tannins.  At $15.99 a box, this could easily become my house red wine – something to sip on a Wednesday night and even serve to company for a casual pizza dinner with minimal pain to the pocketbook.

Here’s how Big House describes its Usual Suspect: “The Usual Suspect Cabernet Sauvignon is a bomba de fruta, replete with a vibrant and enticing nose that draws the drinker to a very Big House state of mind. This Cabernet Sauvignon was coolly fermented and aged in neutral oak to give it a unique profile. We then added a soupçon of Grenache to this Cab to exercise its aromatic potential.”

Other Big House box wines include its Big House Red and Big House White, along with its Unchained Naked (unoaked) Chardonnay and Birdman Pinot Grigio.  I may give one of the whites a try next.

The Usual Suspect earns an enthusiastic “Delicious!” from me this evening.  However, I suspect other box wines may still fall into the “Dreck” category.  I’d like to make my foray into box wines an ongoing exploration, so look for other posts on the topic in the weeks and months ahead.