Box Score

Now that “box wine” is beginning to shed its low-rent image, consumers are faced with a problem: The price is certainly right on these three-, four-, even five-liter packages, but the lowest imaginable price is no bargain if you hate the wine you’ve bought. Many wineries producing wine for box sales deal with this challenge by producing a blend that nobody could possibly object to—in the process producing a wine that soon becomes dull to drink. No chance of that with Washington producer Tefft Cellars’ nonvintage Columbia Valley cabernet-merlot blend (about $22 for a four-liter box). A robust Bordeaux-style red (60 percent cabernet sauvignon, 40 percent merlot), it has enough tannin and oak to give the wine some weight on the palate without sacrificing a fine, lingering fruity finish that makes it agreeable to drink on its own, and first-rate with food. Tefft doesn’t go in for nonvintage blending to conceal anything from the consumer; with wine like this, packaging is a significant component of cost, and not having to reprint the label every time the vintage breakdown of the blend changes saves a good deal of money, which shows up in the price to you. You won’t find a comparable Washington red selling for $4.15 per 750-milliliter bottle.