Dégustation de vins en tetrapak du Toronto Star

[adastra]

Wine lovers won't be knocked out by boxing
Hyped package holds subpar products. By Gordon Stimmell

Apr. 30, 2006.

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Like some dowager's ball, the shimmering debut of Tetra Pak hit LCBO stores with all the whistles blowing. At the Queens Quay location, the boxes, which resembled day-glo milk cartons, were piled into a triumphal arch you could walk under. I watched in growing horror one day as a 5-year-old boy toyed with its foundations.

That was almost a year ago, as French Rabbit launched in its so-called environmentally friendly box. Very space age. Recyclable. Lighter. Très flashy. And now Three Thieves Bandit has stolen the spotlight with 250-ml cartons that look like kindergarten fruit boxes. Earth-friendly, populist wine in a box seems the wave of the future.

Too bad much of it sucks. A lot of French Rabbit is commercial swill, folks. Factory wine. Three Thieves is uneven stuff and looks like playground plonk. If the LCBO is so hell bent on reducing glass intake by 10 per cent, why don't they try to do it with wines you'd want to buy?

Several insider sources say French Rabbit owner Boisset of France paid the LCBO, in what was billed as a "joint initiative," $520,000 to launch their brand of mass produced vino from Languedoc Roussillon.

The LCBO refuses to confirm the figure, though it's well known that a simple promotional display such as placing the product at the end of an aisle, can run up to and over $20,000. The big bucks in this case apparently meant Rabbit hopped to the head of the line. Other producers of Tetra-packaged wines were told to wait until the Rabbit launch — ie., to play tortoise.

Only 13 per cent of these funny boxes are currently recycled anyhow, with the rest streaming to Michigan landfills. That figure is from 2004, says Barb McConnell of Stewardship Ontario, and includes all tetras, including kids' fruit drink boxes. Wine recycling will only be a fraction of the 13 per cent. But I guess the boxes take up less room crushed than bottles.

As a wine critic who has professionally judged wines in Portugal, Italy and France as well as North America, I put these products to the taste test. To make it more democratic, my neighbour Sandy joined me. Here's how some stack up.

The Boisset French Rabbit series comes in tall one-litre boxes alongside the same wine in a 750-ml bottle on shelves for the same price. The idea is you'll think you are getting a much better deal with the boxed version. However, Rabbit Chardonnay ($12.95) has a shy nose, a bare hint of lemon, very weak watery flavours of quince and a finish of bitter lemon. "This wine is so not there," said Sandy. Rabbit Cabernet Sauvignon ($12.95) is little better, with a rubbery latex nose, chokecherry aromas and bitter sour cherry flavours. "This is the wine you drag out after everyone's already drunk," said Sandy.

Three Thieves Bandit is a Trinchero Family Estate California wine in one-litre boxes. The rectilinear box is messy to pour and takes practice. Its mantra is, "Wine snob tested, mother earth approved." The Cabernet Sauvignon was "sour" in Sandy's words, the Pinot Grigio bland and insubstantial and the Merlot simply weak. (All $11.95.)

Vendange comes from Canandaigua Wine Company in California in easy to pour 500-ml boxes. Their wines graded out the best of this unhappy bunch. The Pinot Grigio ($6.95) — pear, crushed pineapple and apple aromas and sweet-edged mellow pear and pineapple flavours — is really quite nice. The California Shiraz ($6.95) — nice vanilla, blackberry and cedar, with aromas hinting of violets and lavender — proved slightly sweaty on finish. "Drinkable," said Sandy, but "a bit like the smell after firecrackers go off."

Likan is made in Chile by Concha y Toro Winery and comes in one-litre boxes. Again, rectilinear box glugs all over unless you pour with box held sideways. Worse yet, its Likan Cabernet Sauvignon ($11.80) has sweaty aromas and flavours of old stewed prunes; it's sour on the palate with a nasty aftertaste. "Like rain-sogged earth at the cottage," said Sandy.

At least they have the Likan Merlot ($11.80), whose smoky spicy blueberry and oak accented black cherry makes it one of the better performers. My neighbour confesses, "I could drink this one."

[Passedate]

Avons goûté le French Rabbit C-S que ma fille avait apporté de Oakville (c'était une "joke", elle respecte plus son père que ça). Définitivement pas un choix pour la prochaine virtuelle.

Pourtant, l'idée n'est peut-être pas mauvaise; je suis surpris et un peu choqué de lire que si peu de tetra-packs sont recyclés. Ça en dit long sur le peu de conscience environnementale de ceux qui, même si toutes les possibilités leur sont fournies, ne sont pas foutus d'aider la planète.

[Arafat]

Moi aussi j'ai goûté au French Rabbit C-S ... Pas extra! Mais pour déboucher un lavabo, #1

Arafat

[Magneto]

J'ai vu un reportage hier à Radio Canada...Les spécialiste disaient que le vin était surprenant...Voulaient-ils dire surprenant mauvais ou bon??!! Je sais que ça n'est pas l'habit qui fait le moine, mais l'ouverture de la btl fait partie du rituel et du plaisir!!


C'est beau l'évolution, mais dans ce cas-ci, je peux m'en passer!!

André

[Greppone 4]

Moi aussi j'ai goûté au French Rabbit C-S ... Pas extra! Mais pour déboucher un lavabo, #1

Arafat

Mieux qu'un Australien, Arafat
Greppone 4

[Arafat]

Je ne suis pas un grand fan des vins australiens mais je t'assure que ceux-ci n'ont rien à voir avec ça!

Arafat