“Boxed wine sales in the US are over a billion dollars,” Kristin Olszewski, the founder and CEO of Nomadica, tells Glamour. The sustainable wine company was already known for its premium canned options when a friend told her boxed wine was selling exceptionally well at New York City Whole Foods. Sensing an opportunity, Nomadica launched its direct-to-consumer boxed wine last year; she says it became 20% of their online volume within the first quarter.
The boom is happening abroad too: In France, 44% of supermarket wine is sold in a box. That number is over 60% in Sweden. Olszewski describes it as “one of the only bright spots” in an industry that’s been struggling with rising costs and changing consumer behavior.
Intentional branding isn’t the only reason behind the glow up, though. According to Amy Troutmiller, co-founder and CEO of Really Good Boxed Wine, more winemakers are pursuing alternative formats because the technology has gotten better. There’s less oxygen getting in to corrupt the taste, which means a higher quality product to meet the more stylish packaging.
And unlike an opened glass bottle, boxed wine can stay fresh in the refrigerator for a month or more. That’s ideal for the occasional drinker who might want a glass with dinner now and again without having to open something new. “With boxed wine, you can have a sip, you can have three glasses, you can cook with it,” says Olszewski. “I always tell people you should only cook with wine that you’re going to drink with, but opening up a bottle to cook feels so wasteful.”
Bag-in-box packaging is also much more sustainable and significantly cheaper to produce. Even with the plastic bag inside, all the experts I spoke with said boxed wine is more environmentally friendly than glass or aluminum cans. “With a world on fire, literally, the box has one tenth the carbon footprint of a single 750ml glass bottle of wine,” says Ezrin.
And, of course, the value is hard to beat: One box of wine typically equals about three to four bottles. For context, the average cost for a single bottle of wine is about $13 (if you’re not too picky about quality). However, you can get a really great tasting box of wine for less than $25. So besides saving you space in your fridge or on your countertop, it’s more cost conscious.
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