Life in the box is emerging and growing for lots of reasons:

• “The box” system reduces packaging waste by 92% and carbon emissions by 55%.
• By eliminating glass bottles, corks and closures – it reduces packaging and shipping costs.  In turn, this savings can then be passed along to customers.
• Consumers can receive the equivalent of four bottles of wine for the price of three in a nifty little 3L wine cask (i.e. bag–in-box).
• This packaging also allows your vino to stay fresh for up 6 weeks after opening.

Sounds great, right?  There’s only one little problem standing in the way of progress:  Too many wine drinkers are still of the mindset that wine that comes in a box is pure plonk!

I have to admit, I have been on the fence with my thoughts on box wine.  My box wine tasting experiences have been rather hit or miss.  While doing my best to keep an open mind, I recently had the opportunity to sample the 2008 Monthaven Winery Chardonnay from California’s Monterey County Central Coast.  Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of California Chardonnay.  Uh oh – do you see where this might be going?  However, to my pleasure and surprise, Monthaven Winery winemaker, Jeff Yamamoto did a fabulous job of allowing the natural tropical fruit flavors of this wine to shine through, while keeping that all too familiar Big California Oak trademark in check, to make a very pleasing and agreeable everyday wine.

This particular Chardonnay and all of the wines in this collection, come in a convenient 3 liter box system that’s called the Octavin Home Wine Bar.  This wine bar stores (20) five-ounce glasses of wine and keeps it fresh for up to six weeks after opening.   The 2008 Monthaven Winery Chardonnay is being distributed nationally with a SRP of $23.99. 

It’s a no-brainer folks – for what works out to be about 6 bucks a bottle, there’s plenty to like here.  If you’re an everyday white wine drinker that prefers a Chardonnay with a little less oak, often found in comparable or pricier offerings, then this is the box for you!

3 Stars out of 4. 

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Founded more than 25 years ago, today Columbia Crest is one of Washington State’s premier wine producers.  Since the release of its first white varietal wines in 1987 and its first release of red varietal wines in 1988, this Washington State winery has become recognized as the epitome of consistency in the global value wine category.  In the 90’s, Impact magazine named Columbia Crest as one of the “Top Five U.S. Wineries”.  It has also garnered tons of top honors and accolades from other large circulated wine publications like The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator as being one of the “Best Value Wineries” in the world.  Year after year, Columbia Crest has shown amazing consistency at producing exceptional wines at a price point that most consumers can swallow.

The Columbia Crest “Grand Estates” Chardonnay is, in this case, one of the winery’s stewards of excellence.  In 1997, Wine Spectator magazine ranked the 1995 Estates Series Chardonnay #59 on its “Top 100” list. In 1999, Columbia Crest pleased the judges again at Wine Spectator to earn a spot at #40 on its “Top 100” list with its 1997 Estates Series Chardonnay.  The list of medals and achievements has been endless for both the Chardonnay as well as the Columbia Crest Winery.  In my personal opinion, Columbia Crest is one of the most reliable winery names that shoppers should be looking for when considering to purchase either a red or white wine.

However, with that being said, I will caution you:  There’s a lot to choose from if you decide that you want to try a wine from Columbia Crest for the first time.  You’ve got their first tier, which is called “Two Vines” – this is their least expensive stuff.  Then you’ve got their second tier of juice, called “Grand Estates”, which is the equivalent of saying “$10 bucks of intensity and gusto.”  The next rung will put you into their VIP section with the  Horse Heaven Hills (“H3″) wines that first debuted in 2008.  Finally, their top of the line wine is the high octane brain bender “Reserve” – which is liquid gold.  This is definitely one of those situations where you get exactly what you pay for here.  The “Two Vines” is pretty decent for the price, while the Reserve line-up will rock your world so long as you’re willing to ante up anywhere from $25-40 bills to feel the beat of your brain.

I thought for this tasting experience that I ought to hit the sweet spot of most wine buyers – $10 buckaroos.  I’ve had the Columbia Crest “Grand Estates” line-up of wines more times than counting sheep in my sleep over my wine drinking years, and that includes this very “decorated” Chardonnay for which my beloved sister-in-law and I would drink by the gallons way back in our early days.  I’ll be the first to admit, I’m usually a huge fan of the consumer-friendly “Grand Estates” line-up, however I’ve become particularly sensitive to one very apparent attribute about the “Grand Estates” Chardonnay – it appears to be stuck in its glory days of the ‘90s and early years of 2000 when most of the Chardonnay drinking world liked gnawing on big chunks of oak.  Back then, it was the cool and palatable thing to do.  Fast forward to the present, I can honestly say that not much has changed over the years with this brawny-style American Chardonnay.  All in all, the 2007 Columbia Crest “Grand Estates” Chardonnay just seemed very “dated” to my taste buds.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s ok, but solid wood just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.  I would personally welcome a design change towards a leaner and crisper modern style.

I award the 2007 Columbia Crest “Grand Estates” Chardonnay 2 Stars out of 4.  It tasted “out of style” to me with it’s over the top oaky flavors.  However, I’m sure that there are still a lot of “woodchucks” out there that would whole-heartedly disagree with me and ask that this recipe be left alone.

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From: Argentina

Price: $8.99

ATTENTION ALL CALIFORINIA CHARDONNAY DRINKERS:  Please place your glass of wine down on the table and step away.

I want to share with you yet another outstanding value white wine from Argentina that you’re probably not paying attention to because it comes from a lesser known place in Argentina called the Calchaqui Valley.  It also contains that unfamiliar native Argentinean white grape known as Torrontes.  However, this Torrontes has a splash of that old familiar favorite in it – Chardonnay! The 2007 Inca white blend consists of 80% Torrontes and 20% Chardonnay.  The splash of Chardonnay is terrific.  It really gives this wine some serious backbone that allows it to hold up to just about any food that you throw at it.  We started drinking this white blend just before dinner.  Our dinner was some Tex-Mex chicken and steak fajitas.  We liked this wine so much that we continued to drink it with dinner, and it held up really well.

The 2007 Inca Torrontes / Chardonnay has an awesome crisp apricot and citrus (think grapefruit) flavor that is light on the “tree bark” (oak in wine geek terms).  This wine is very enjoyable and skillfully blended to near perfection.  And I almost forgot the best part – it can be purchased for less than $10…cha-ching!

This wine is an outstanding value and the Torrontes grape is quickly becoming one of my favorite white wine grapes. 

WineLife365 Rating: 4-Star

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From: California
Price: $11.99

I knew that this day would come – the day that I would have to sit down with King KJ and drink his wine.  Kendall-Jackson is the undisputed King of California Chardonnay.  The folks at Kendall-Jackson have a legion of loyal followers that buy this wine by the gallons and keep them coming back for more year after year.  The highbrowed wine writers also seem to think that King KJ’s Chardonnay is pretty great too…

90 Points – “The 2007…is entirely made from estate fruit. This cuvee seems to get better with each vintage as winemaker Randy Ullom is a virtuoso at producing such high quantity/high quality wine…”
Robert M. Parker Jr., Wine Advocate, December 2008

87 Points – “Made in the familiar style that is K-J Vintner’s Reserve, this Chardonnay shows pineapple, lemondrop, mineral and spice flavors balanced with crisp coastal acidity.”
Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast, February 2009

Wow these guys sound like they really liked the King’s juice.   With great press like this from such highly regarded wine writers and the millions of loyal subjects that line up to buy this wine, it has to taste good, right?

Unfortunately, King KJ is not a good and noble King in my opinion.  He’s very deceitful.  He drowns his loyal followers in high amounts of sugar and oak and then pretends that his wine is bursting with tropical flavors.  Take a sip.  There’s virtually no fruit to be found inside the bottle.  But the integration of oak and sugar are pretty good.  Honestly, it’s truly remarkable what the lab rats at KJ can do with this stuff.  The poor winemakers at KJ are not given a whole lot of fruit to work with.  But what they lack in fruit, they can sure make up for in the lab.  Kudos to them!  I now understand the KJ phenomenon.   It’s sort of like the success of Mountain Dew:  Just one dose of its sugary content and you’re hooked, and then you tell a friend about it.  In the end, I was only able to get down one glass of this concocted Chardonnay.  I give Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2 Stars. 

FYI – I do have a half-full leftover bottle for anyone that’s interested.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star

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Here are a few foods to consider having with your Chardonnay:

1. Fish. The “fattier” the fish, the better.  Candidates would be swordfish, salmon, tuna or lobster.  Chardonnay also goes great with crabs, crab cakes, shrimp, oysters… you get the point.    Chardonnay is pretty awesome with seafood.
2. Pasta with Cream sauces.  The red stuff is not so good.
3. Grilled Chicken
4. Roasted Chicken
5. Anything with corn or steamed veggies, vegetarian dishes.
6. Olives
7. These 3 cheeses are great with Chardonnay– Provolone, Gruyere, Mild Cheddar Cheese.
8. Fruits that work well with Chardonnay include: Apples, Pineapples, Honeydew, Mango, Dates, Prunes and Raisins.

My best advice is to not pair Chardonnay with any tomato based dishes.  Unfortunately, Chardonnay and tomatoes just don’t like one another.

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