In the past we've talked about bag-in boxed wines and even mentioned a few that we think are worth a sip or two.
But what if you could bring your own container to the store and skip the box all together? Bring your own container wine? In my own neighborhood?
All we have to say is, "Fill 'er up!"
Coming soon to American grocery stores are fill-your-own wine machines. The machines carry anywhere between 500- 1,000 liters each and all you do is supply the container. By reducing the amount of packaging needed to contain and transport wine, there's a substantial savings that's able to be passed along to the consumer. Plus, it means you can take your adult beverage home in a container that actually fits in your fridge, in the amount you want!
The machines contain red, white and rose wines and should run around $2/liter. They work the same way a self-service gas pump does, just swipe your card at the machine, fill your container and it prints you a receipt. It's as easy as that!
We like the idea of being able to fill up any size container, big or small for a party or just a night at home. You could take home just enough for two glasses for dinner or enough for a whole crowd, the choice is yours! Plus, when all is said and done, there's no extra trash piling up in your garbage or need for additional recycling measures.
• Learn more about how the idea came about over at Dr Vino
Related: Octavin: Premium Wine in a Box
via Dr Vino via Consumerist
(Image: Dr Vino)
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When I lived for a little bin in Venice they had little shops that sold wine in refillable containers from barrels. Excellent stuff and great prices too. Would love to see this trend take off in the States.
This is cool! I do hope we see it in the US soon.
@corvi: I love those places in Venice! The whole time we traveled there, we filled up our leftover water bottles. Paired with the awesome markets, we had a wine picnic on the go.
There is the whole culture to drinking wine and a celebration behind every opened bottle, so pumping wine into empty water or milk containers just takes away the charm.
Kotsumonika - Totally agree, except for table wine. I don't think that same culture applies to table wine and many european families use this barrell method. I have lots of european friends whose family buys wine by the barrell and keeps the barrell in the celler where they refill it each night for dinner. Would I like that for a special occasion? Decidedly not. But for table wines, totally.
Municipal Winemakers in Santa Barbara already has a refill bottle program: http://municipalwinemakers.com/2010/08/27/reuse-dont-recycle/
Plus they offer free wine delivery if you visit the tasting room by bicycle ;)
I would love to see wine sold in this fashion in North America. As long as it isn't toxic, slaggy runoff from mega-labels. It's nothing new; wine has been sold "en vrac," or "all'ingrosso" for centuries. It's usually coarse, unfiltered 'country' style wines, very drinkable and fun.
I'd absolutely love this for everyday wines! What a great option to have.
Hum, I'm not a total germ-a-phobe but I had visions of the following when I read this article:
-a drunk drinking wine straight from the spout
-a guy sneezing on his hand then handling the pump or worse touching the spout
-a lady putting the spout right into her gross, dirty container.
I'll stick with the bottles of wine. Thank you.
JaxLBC - alcohol disinfects, right? ;-)
huh. I'm so confused by most of the comments. Most of the rest of the world has been doing this for a while. You can go to stores where they have a barrel of wine and get a bottle filled from it. I've never been enamored of the ritual of the bottle mentioned above. And alcohol is a major disinfectant.
I'd be all about buying wine in this fashion. I hate having tons of wine bottles to some how get rid of...
the main market hall in zagreb, croatia has a stall that sells byo container wine- it was delicious and cheap! it went perfectly with the rest of our "things that looked yummy at the market" lunches. :)
Brilliant! There's a wonderful restaurant in Astoria that serves wine "on tap" out of the barrels the get from Long Island wineries. It's great wine at a great price, and it's super low-emissions because it's local and has virtually no packaging.
It's a great idea, but you need to sterilize the container if you want to keep it for any length of time. That I think is the only problem as impurities will turn the wine bad quickly. But I -love- the idea -