Gene Burns – “Dining Around with Gene Burns”

810 KGO San Francisco

Radio Show Transcript – June 28, 2003

Gene Burns: Wine in a box…to some of you that doesn’t compute. You just heard something, and somehow it’s not working in your head. Well we’re behind the times again. Sorry. In Europe they have been selling good wine in boxes, in Australia they sell good wine in boxes, and now a company has been started here in the U.S. to market wine in a box. It’s called Black Box Wines and we are joined by Ryan Sproule who is the president and founder of Black Box Wines. They do have a website if you want to check it out www.blackboxwines.com. The boxes contain 3 liters of wine, that’s equal to four regular wine bottles, the 750m, and Ryan joins us in the studio to talk about Black Box Wine, Ryan welcome to Dining Around.

Gene Burns: Now, as I said, Europe has been selling wine in boxes, Australia has been doing it, what impelled you to bring it to the US?

Ryan Sproule: I actually got the idea while I was in Europe and I tried box wine over there, a French boxed wine and I thought it was really good, I enjoyed it, and I thought, what a great idea and we should do it here too.

Gene Burns: How is it being received?

Ryan Sproule: Very well. Consumers like it. Initially when I had the idea, I had to sell it within the wine industry, there was a lot of push back, but now that we have it out there the response has been great.

Gene Burns: What do you think the attraction of boxed wine is to the average consumer; not the insider who knows all about anaerobic packaging and all that, but to the average consumer, why is this attractive?

Ryan Sproule: Well there are two major benefits. One is that we save a ton of money on the packaging, so we can offer wine at about half the price you would pay if it was in the bottle.

Gene Burns: Is that right. Half the price? Wow.

Ryan Sproule: Yes. We won a silver medal in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. We beat 64 other more expensive chardonnays and most of the ones we beat were about twice the price if you break it down on a per bottle cost.

Gene Burns: So in a bottle of wine about half the cost is packaging?

Ryan Sproule: Yes, it is very significant. By the time you add up the bottle, the cork, the foil and the label, it gets up there, definitely. Then you have a mark up on the distributor level, the retailer level and all of a sudden this bottle becomes very expensive. So by putting it in this package we can offer really good wine at a great value. The other major advantage is that the wine, after you open it, stays fresh for a month. Since no oxygen gets into the package, you don’t get the oxidation that you would normally get with a bottled wine. So you can take your time, enjoy it, you don’t have to worry about throwing out the bottle three days later if you haven’t finished drinking it.

Gene Burns: For the serious wine drinker that’s a huge advantage.

Gene Burns: Ryan Sproule, who is the owner and operator of Black Box Wine Company, has just poured the chardonnay, this is 2001 chardonnay and I just said to Ryan, which is a stupid comment on my part, “This tastes just like wine.” Of course, that’s exactly what it is. In other words, there’s just no difference in taste whatsoever and yet it came out of a box. So let’s talk about the box, you can’t just put wine in any ordinary cardboard carton, what is it about this box that makes it such a superior carrying case for wine?

Ryan Sproule: Well it’s a great compact package and in addition to that, the technology does not allow any air into the container once it’s open. There is a plastic bag inside the box, which collapses as wine is poured so you don’t get the exposure to air which normally oxidizes an opened bottle of wine.

Gene Burns: Oh I see, so it’s not like a bottle of milk. You are not opening the top of the box where then air can get in. In this case you have a spout at the bottom of this black box and so as you drawing the wine down a vacuum is being created in the box; the bag is collapsing so no air gets in. And no matter how carefully or expert you are at it, if you open a bottle of wine there is no way to prevent air from getting into it.

Gene Burns: So the value here is, do I recall you saying, it would keep a month after you started pouring?

Ryan Sproule: Yes, it stays fresh for four weeks after you start pouring so you can take your time and drink it; come home from work and have a glass of wine and not worry about committing to a whole bottle of wine. It is also good for other applications such as having a picnic or an outdoor barbeque, boating, or if you want to hike up in the woods with it, you can throw it in your back pack and off you go.

Gene Burns: The other thing is you can take this out by your pool and nobody will say, “Get that bottle out of here, we don’t want broken glass near the pool,” because the box doesn’t break.

Ryan Sproule: That’s right. We sell it at Pacific Bell Park in the field luxury boxes for that reason; they don’t want bottles at the field level in case somebody throws a bottle at a baseball player. So if you ever see a box fly through the air and hit someone, you know it’s my box.

Gene Burns: What is available now is the 2001 Chardonnay and it is a lighter style chardonnay, not heavy, it’s not oaky or buttery, it is a fruit forward chardonnay.

Ryan Sproule: Right. We did not want to do your typical big oaky, buttery, California chardonnay because this is a wine that is designed to drink everyday -- for people who come home and want to have a glass of wine with dinner. It’s very drinkable, you can have two or three glasses and it doesn’t become over powering.

Gene Burns: It’s a sensational idea for picnics also, and if you go sailing or somewhere where you don’t want to hassle because bottles can be a problem when they break.

Ryan Sproule: Absolutely. You’re just getting more wine for your money and my philosophy is that the most important thing is the quality of wine. Not the package that it comes out of although this package has its benefits.

Gene Burns: There is a certain cache to a black box, it is very handsomely done. The wine is very good; we have been sipping here while we have been talking, perfectly fine wine and it is in a black box. A 3 liter black box which you can simply keep in your refrigerator. And guess what, after you draw that first glass no air gets into the box because a vacuum is created as the wine is taken out through the spout. So you don’t have the problem of opening a bottle of wine and not being able keep it more than twenty-four hours or just adding it to the vinegar cask. And it’s priced right, the 3 liter black box is equal to four 750ml bottles, which is the standard wine bottle size in America. Ryan Sproule, president and founder of Black Box Wines and the website is www.blackboxwines.com. Ryan thanks for joining us.

Ryan Sproule: Thank you Gene.