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Jan 07

Champagne in a Box?

Consumer Watch, News Add comments

I was at my local wine store when I overheard a customer berating the wine steward about why they didn’t carry the box wine which contained Champagne equipped with a drinking straw. Baffled and amazed, I had to investigate what this was all about.

Come to find out, it’s not a box wine at all; California vintner and Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is producing a 6 ounce Blanc De Blancs named "Sofia" packaged in a raspberry-colored can with a straw attached to the side like a juice box. Unfortunately, most articles reporting on the libation grossly misrepresent the product as Champagne. I guess we can equally blame Coppola as well, for Blanc De Blancs should be made entirely out of Chardonnay grapes but his product is a blend of Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat Canelli.

Now I know I might not be as cool as I use to be, but I just don’t get it. I can’t speak for everyone, but I have no interest drinking a sparkling wine (heaven forbid if it was real champagne) through a straw; but then again, I don’t like drinking espresso out of a Styrofoam cup either.

What’s disturbing me equally are those consumers that seem to care more about how cool they look drinking the product more than they do about what’s inside the can. Frank Greve from the Knight Ridder Newspaper wrote a story about the product and reported out that Washington D.C.’s restaurant Mie N Yu’s beverage manager Saeed Bennani said, "You’re drinking champagne out of a can with a straw. It’s different. So you’re different," Bennani said. "What’s in the can almost doesn’t matter."

So if it doesn’t matter what’s in the can, why not simply fill the container with Budweiser? I guess this is one of those stories that I simply have to let go - to each his own, right?

Sofia

~ Pamela Heiligenthal

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3 Responses to “Champagne in a Box?”

  1. Brenda Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

    I’d have to say this isn’t my cup of tea either – I wonder what the motivation was to create such a product?

  2. Jeff Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    I can completely agree with your hesitation to drink something like wine out of a can. I have a hard time using the poorer quality wine glasses in my house when the best one is dirty, somehow the wine just does not taste as good. I think this product is about something else than being different, though that is not to say it’s probably true. I would probably give this product a shot, but I would do this because it seems much more convenient than opening an entire bottle of sparkling wine I couldn’t possible drink by myself.

  3. Pat Says:
    January 14th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    Seems silly to drink an alcoholic beverage out of a pink can - bad marketing if you ask me.

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