Newly Released Octavin Home Wine Bar Artisan Collection Is Changing the Minds of Wine Critics and Consumers Alike

New packaging is another reason for growing consumer acceptance of box wine format. Underdog Wine Merchants recently introduced the Octavin Home Wine Bar Collection of artisan wines in a dramatic new BIB package that has garnered a great deal of praise about the packaging.

21 Jun 2010 --- Box wines are gaining significant ground with consumers and wine critics alike due to new wine selections and significant packaging improvements. New consumers entering the marketplace, the ability of bag-in-the-box (BIB) to keep wines fresh up to six weeks once opened and the ever increasing acceptance that – it’s the wine inside that really matters – are all helping to drive adoption of this growing format. The latest market data shows that sales of 3-liter boxed table wine increased 19.9% during the one-year period ending April 3, while overall sales of table wine edged up just 3.5%.

One reason for the growing acceptance of the format is that it preserves freshness. Robert Whitley, syndicated wine columnist and frequent wine judge at many international wine competitions, says that, “Technically, there may not be a better way to serve wine and preserve it once opened. A vacuum-sealed bag inside the box contains the wine. As the wine is drawn from the spout, the bag collapses and keeps the air out. This prevents oxidation and spoilage, allowing the consumer to keep an open box of wine fresh and ready to drink for up to six weeks.”

New packaging is another reason for growing consumer acceptance of box wine format. Underdog Wine Merchants recently introduced the Octavin Home Wine Bar Collection of artisan wines in a dramatic new BIB package that has garnered a great deal of praise about the packaging. Sharon Kapnick, award-winning wine and food writer and author of this week’s Time Magazine article “Tacky No More: Making Boxed Wine Look Chic”, notes that “Much thought, research and plain old hard work went into the design and making of the ten wines in the Octavin Home Wine Bar Artisan Collection. And it all paid off, because the Octavin’s do the impossible: they make boxed wines sexy.”

Noted wine columnist Dan Berger who writes for the Napa Valley Register and Santa Rosa Press Democrat recently reviewed the Octavin Home Wine Bar Artisan Collection and observed that “Underdog Wine Merchants is one of the wine world’s most remarkable success stories over the last four years,” and that “What has really driven Underdog’s performance in the last year, however, are a series of wine brands in octagon-shaped boxes. Each has three liters of wine and retails for about $20 — which works out to about $5 a bottle. I tasted a range of these boxed wines with Richardson last week, and was overwhelmingly impressed with their quality.”

Since launching in April 2010, Octavin Home Wine Bar Artisan Collection of wines has earned an unprecedented twenty gold and silver medals in five national and international wine competitions. The 2008 Monthaven Chardonnay won Gold and Best of Class in the 2010 Pacific Rim Competition; the prestigious competition also awarded four silver medals to the 2007 Monthaven Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, Seven NV Red Bodegas Osborne, 2009 Silver Birch Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and 2008 Boho California Old Vine Zinfandel. A Double Gold medal was awarded to the 2009 Big House White and a silver medal to the 2008 Boho Old Vine Zinfandel in the 2010 National Women’s Wine Competition.