One month ago, I told my readers: "Stop ignoring the Tetra Pak." As I also mentioned, "Tetra Paks are better for the environment in a number of ways, making it a more sustainable choice than a bottle." However, that won't matter to many people unless the wine in the Tetra Pak tastes good, and I believe that the quality of wine in Tetra Paks has been improving over the years.
Food Production Daily recently posted an intriguing article about Tetra Paks, noting the growth of this product. In 2013, about 1.7 billion liters of wine were packaged in Tetra Paks, a growth of 3% from the prior year, and constituting about "7% of the world's share of still wines." That seems like a substantial amount of wine, much more than I expected. And as the category is growing, it seems that more and more people are accepting of this packaging.
The article also notes that the best markets for Tetra Paks currently include Spain, Argentina, Russia and Italy. The U.S. is not mentioned as one of these top markets which is probably not surprising as it doesn't appear there is much wine available here yet in Tetra Paks. However, there are at least a few very good wines available, and hopefully more will come in the near future. I agree with the gist of the article that more quality wine needs to be packaged in this way, to avoid acquiring a reputation that only "cheap" wine gets placed into a Tetra Pak.
As the Beacon Hill Wine & Gourmet in Melrose sold out of nearly all of the Tetra Pak wines that were recently brought in, it is clear that local consumers are willing to take a chance on these wines. They especially make an attractive choice as summer approaches, as they are a convenient option for taking to the beach, camping, boating and more. No glass to break, no need for a corkscrew, compact size.
So what is stopping you from enjoying wine in a Tetra Pak?
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