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If you’re surprised to hear that boxed wine isn’t only having a moment but has officially shed its frat-party past, it’s because you know that the “bag in a box” concept was once considered maybe the most lowbrow, unsophisticated way to drink. My own grandfather preferred Franzia above all else, and this was treated as a strange and confounding quirk among my far-from-fancy Midwestern family. I still remember how they’d lightly haze him—“You know better wine exists, right?”—while making room for the cardboard square of pink moscato in the fridge.
“For decades, the market has been trained to see boxed wine as synonymous with the lowest quality,” says Amy Ezrin, founder of Giovese Family Wines. “I remembered my mother having that box of Franzia in the fridge and college kids talking about slapping the bag. My own personal impressions were the same: As a fine-wine person, boxed wine had nothing to offer me.”
That’s since changed for Ezrin—and for consumers too. All the reasons why my grandfather, a child of the Great Depression, drank boxed wine (less wasteful, more affordable) are driving millennials and Gen Z drinkers to it now. These new versions also have prettier packaging and a better-tasting product.
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“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, cofounder 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.
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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 750 milliliter 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.
“In an era when we’re facing incredible economic headwinds, not to mention declining interest in wine as a beverage, boxed wine offers an olive branch to drinkers who are looking to save money and make sustainable purchasing choices while also getting a delicious, high-quality, artisanal product,” says Ezrin.
“I think wine’s biggest barrier to entry with young generations is price point,” Olszewski says. “Boxed wine is an option for that. We’re making these wines accessible, and people are doing the math.”
Gen Z may be drinking less, but the rise in popularity of boxed wine isn’t totally generational. Troutmiller says Really Good Boxed Wine’s average customer is over 45, and the brand has seen good numbers among boomers and in retirement communities too. To Troutmiller, there’s a bigger societal change happening with all ages. “There are a lot more lifestyle activities where glass bottles can be inconvenient or even prohibitive,” she says. “Outdoor concerts and picnics, an apartment or condo building that has a rooftop deck, a pool, or community areas [with strict ‘no glass’ rules]—all these places and situations where a glass bottle just doesn’t work for the modern wine drinker.”
“We’re not replacing the bottle entirely,” she continues. “But when you want one or two glasses, or you’re entertaining and want to serve something great and have more quantity, those choices are more available.”