I don’t drink much alcohol. So unless I have company, a bottle of wine (red or white) is either going to go bad before I finish it, or I’ll have to plan ahead to use it in my cooking.
But, as with most things, wine goes bad because of exposure to oxygen. I’ve heard that the vacuum pump options aren’t very effective at preserving wine; there’s a special heavy gas that you can spray in the bottle to crowd out O2, but if you want to have a small glass every evening, it seems sort of wasteful.*
Enter: boxed wine.
My grandmother used to have a box of Franzia in her fridge, right alongside a 2 liter bottle of diet grapefruit soda and the makings of pimento cheese sandwiches with miracle whip on white bread, so I’d always assumed it was only for cheap wine and cheap people. I was so wrong!
Boxed wine is often excellent, lasts for ages (it’s in a plastic bladder that is air-free and shrinks as the wine is drained), and is also well-priced (at 4 bottles per box).
I have tried many varieties, but because I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe’s, I usually have a box of their Chardonnay in the fridge and a box of Cabernet on the fridge (which is also quite useful for cooking). I’ve had good experiences with Black Box as well.
My Mulled Wine recipe calls for 2 bottles, so it’s also convenient to bring for events when traveling for the holidays, knowing I’ll use at least half a box.
*Note: I have discovered a wine bladder that I’m going to test out for situations where I want to lengthen the lifespan of wine that started out in a bottle (lots of people seem to use it for camping/backpacking).
They have also started selling wine in cans, which seems pretty great. (Elsewhere I recommend TJ's fizzy peach (winecooler)) I’ve seen complaints about the price, but I think there’s just confusion about how little wine is actually in a bottle. 750ml is about 25oz. A soda can is half a bottle, and in many cases makes more sense for someone who doesn’t drink much (rather than 4 bottles that keep for a couple months). Preservation tip: before pouring my glass, I put the expected remainder all the way to the brim in an 8oz regular mouth mason jar with a plastic tight-fitting lid from Ball (details on my The best tupperware page).
And there are also boxes that are only 2 wine bottle equivalents, which probably make more sense for most people?