By giving the Bag-in-Box the same care and attention visually as its bottle range, Platinum has also decided to use state-of-the-art gizmos.
I had a wonderful time on my recent trip to Abruzzo, but I have to admit that by Day 3 I was flagging.
A mixture of plenty of great wine, great food, and the snake-like roads up and down mountain trails had very nearly creased me. So, to be perfectly honest, as we rocked up to visit Platinum winery in a crisp and clean, air-conditioned office in the city of Pescara, I wasn’t entirely sure my eyes were going to stay open throughout. But Platinum’s main man, Daniele Pasquali, had an ace up his sleeve…
Daniele from Abruzzo’s Platinum winery
I’m a full-on convert to other ways of packaging wine. Most drinkers are obsessed with glass bottles. It’s either that everything else looks cheap, or they like the sound of the cork popping, or some other bollocks in an attempt to assuage their lack of imagination.
OK, you don’t stick wines intended for ageing in a plastic bladder, of course you don’t, but in the grand scheme of things how much wine is really made with the full intention of ageing?
So we come back to the fact that people have a negative view still of bag-in-the-box wines, because they look cheap and nasty and remind them of some utter crap that gave them a rotten hangover in the 90s. This is where Daniele and his team at Platinum come in.
It’s a Bag-in-Box wine Jim, but not as we know it
They boxed up their premium Sogno range in response to a couple of issues. First up were those demanding Scandies, hell bent on bag-in-the-box flying off the shelves at the stores of Systembolaget or Vinmonopolet. But also that the on-trade were calling for good wine they can sell by the glass, but they don’t need to fork out £10k for some machine to keep it fresh for more than a day. And this is happening all across Europe and the US right now.
But they didn’t stop there. The same care and attention went into the packaging detail as went into their bottle range. The Roman Gods’ symbol in embossed gold on a jet black background is all engineered to look perfectly formed from any angle. The inner bladder is the highest quality money can buy with a three layer anti-oxidation protection. Even the tap comes with a stamp of guarantee to last for at least 2 weeks from opening. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but… it’s a pretty box (no sniggering please!).
Let’s have it right, I’m not writing this expecting my sommelier mates at places like the Buddha Bar, or the Chiltern Firehouse, to clear a space on the shelves for cardboard containers of Abruzzo’s finest.
But, if you’re working at something like a Carluccio’s or a Pizza Express, or something like that?
The same care and attention has gone into the Bag-in-Box format as has gone into the bottled wines
It’s very good, well made wine from the Controguerra hills, cheap to transport and store, and – without trying to sound like a mercenary here – just think of the extra margin!! Not to mention saving all that petrol in transport for the eco warriors 😉
Clean and crisp was the impression I got when I walked into the office, and walking out I understood why. Clean and crisp looks damn slick on the shelf of your local wine bar or pub, especially when the wine inside has got some game as a very well made expression of Montepulciano or Pecorino.
Can premium packaging change the way we look at alternative containers like bag-in-the-box? I hope so!
Cheers
