The Box Wine Experience

What do you drink in the bush??? Well, we were in the heart of the Mackenzie mountains in the North West Territories of Canada for two weeks, where it was getting dark at midnight, and wished to watch the northern lights with some refreshment. So I had the bright idea to recommend wine tetrapaks, and the even better idea to encourage someone else to bring them!!. This was key, because we wanted to bring 18 litres in hand luggage (for two reasons - Air Canada only allows 23kg per piece for checked luggage and I had some concerns about the durability of these tetrapacks in checked baggage). Well, what do you know - the day the wine was supposed to migrate out west was the day of the "liquids" terrorist scare and my poor friend had to re-pack all his "liquid" hand luggage into his checked baggage - and guess what happened? 3 of the tetrapaks turned into clothes dye within his waterproof canoe backpack. What are these bloody people going to stop at? they are making travel even more miserable than it already is. Anyway, I digress... what about the wine. Well, the three pictured above were the best of the lot. I have already talked previously about the Banrock Station, Shiraz 2004, it is a reasonably complex wine that is just plain GOOD. The Likan, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004 is from Chile and is not quite as good as the Banrock; a shade cheaper at $12, it is still good value and certainly a good everyday wine. Out in the bush, we were fighting for it. The Bistro Mundi NV line of tetrapaks available in Quebec is really hit and miss. The best of the bunch was the argentinian effort, good fruit, some simple tannins, mildy "long" on the palate, overall "OK". Reasonable value at $12.

Next up was the italian effort, also not vintage dated. I think these wines come over in the tankers and get packaged locally (never a good sign). This was a solid non-descript effort, but at least it wasn't crap. Would I ever buy it for $12 in the city - not a chance.

To be continued!!