Boxed In
The NY Times recently had an article about drinking outside the box. The article touted how higher quality wines, especially in Italy, were being released in boxes. The writer, Tyler Colman, saw this as “going green” and I hear that green is the new black.
Yet I don’t wear a lot of black. I like the cacophony of multiple colors. Black as a wardrobe color gained prominence because it was easy, no need to figure out the mood just slip on the black outfit. With me the mood it creates is somber and I can already wake up feeling somber I want to throw on a color that energizes me—something which cheers me up, makes me feel joyous about leaving the warm, comfortable confines of my beloved bed.
But I digress—something I also like to do and which I intend to do frequently in my blog. I try to teach a non-linear understanding of the world, but often I’m forced in a class or a piece of writing to express the curvilinear and circular understanding in a formal linear manner—not today! Going green is complex. It is a process and not a destination. THERE CANNOT BE ONE THING THAT IS GREEN. The numerous responses posted to the Times article indicates some of the complexity. Yes putting wine in a lighter weight box will require less energy to transport it long distances. But how is the plastic made? What health effects are there from putting an acidic liquid in a plastic lining? And the list goes on. This is an issue I see all the time. As a chef, gardener, ecologist and educator frequently people ask me what is the most green thing to eat. Still trapped in the box of looking for “the” answer, and there are many answers. It is a complex matrix with different variables at different times.
I favor local over “certified organic”. I think relationships are more important and more reliable than any stamp being issues by the government. Being able to go to a Farmers Market and have a conversation with the person who grew my food is important to me. I do eat some items that have been shipped from far away, but I try to do so consciously and in moderation. I’m about to go down to San Francisco and pick up a case of 2005 Chateau Beaucastle, one of my favorite CDPs. There would have been less energy used to ship it to me in a box rather than in glass but I’m planning on waiting several years to drink it. In fact I’ll derive pleasure, and a certain amount of discomfort since patience is not my virtue, from the waiting. Anticipating and fantasying about how it will taste when it’s ready. Likewise I only eat local strawberries. So in the spring I get excited when I start seeing the plants in my gardens start to flower, knowing they will eventually bear fruit. It becomes tempting to buy a pint of local organic strawberries when they show up in the store before mine are ready, but I wait. And nothing tastes as good as the first one; it’s like a first kiss. Later ones are often better but the first holds a special place—as St Pauli used to proclaim you never forget your first girl---mmmm, short, brown hair with blue eyes, freckles, kissed her on a stoop in the 60’s on the Upper East Side. Can’t for the life of me remember her name but I remember the kiss!
Back to the box. In America most wine is consumed the day it is bought. I once read in less than an hour after it was bought. We do live in a land of immediate gratification. (Post your thoughts to a blog before you’ve even finished thinking them out.) As you can read, I think there is a time and place for that. There might be a place for wines in a box, even if not a place left in my frig. There is certainly a place for thinking outside of the box. But drawing the box in the first place defines what is inside and what is outside. We also need to question if we need a box at all. I have lots of friends who have decided they don’t need wine at all, and some who have painfully realized they cannot have wine at all. So I try to remain grateful that I can partake of a glass of wine, and I’ve also drunk wine out of a plastic Mardi Gras cup. I’d rather have my glass say “Riedel” in small letters on it then “Bacchus” in large purple and gold lettering, but I’m glad both exist.
Yet I don’t wear a lot of black. I like the cacophony of multiple colors. Black as a wardrobe color gained prominence because it was easy, no need to figure out the mood just slip on the black outfit. With me the mood it creates is somber and I can already wake up feeling somber I want to throw on a color that energizes me—something which cheers me up, makes me feel joyous about leaving the warm, comfortable confines of my beloved bed.
But I digress—something I also like to do and which I intend to do frequently in my blog. I try to teach a non-linear understanding of the world, but often I’m forced in a class or a piece of writing to express the curvilinear and circular understanding in a formal linear manner—not today! Going green is complex. It is a process and not a destination. THERE CANNOT BE ONE THING THAT IS GREEN. The numerous responses posted to the Times article indicates some of the complexity. Yes putting wine in a lighter weight box will require less energy to transport it long distances. But how is the plastic made? What health effects are there from putting an acidic liquid in a plastic lining? And the list goes on. This is an issue I see all the time. As a chef, gardener, ecologist and educator frequently people ask me what is the most green thing to eat. Still trapped in the box of looking for “the” answer, and there are many answers. It is a complex matrix with different variables at different times.
I favor local over “certified organic”. I think relationships are more important and more reliable than any stamp being issues by the government. Being able to go to a Farmers Market and have a conversation with the person who grew my food is important to me. I do eat some items that have been shipped from far away, but I try to do so consciously and in moderation. I’m about to go down to San Francisco and pick up a case of 2005 Chateau Beaucastle, one of my favorite CDPs. There would have been less energy used to ship it to me in a box rather than in glass but I’m planning on waiting several years to drink it. In fact I’ll derive pleasure, and a certain amount of discomfort since patience is not my virtue, from the waiting. Anticipating and fantasying about how it will taste when it’s ready. Likewise I only eat local strawberries. So in the spring I get excited when I start seeing the plants in my gardens start to flower, knowing they will eventually bear fruit. It becomes tempting to buy a pint of local organic strawberries when they show up in the store before mine are ready, but I wait. And nothing tastes as good as the first one; it’s like a first kiss. Later ones are often better but the first holds a special place—as St Pauli used to proclaim you never forget your first girl---mmmm, short, brown hair with blue eyes, freckles, kissed her on a stoop in the 60’s on the Upper East Side. Can’t for the life of me remember her name but I remember the kiss!
Back to the box. In America most wine is consumed the day it is bought. I once read in less than an hour after it was bought. We do live in a land of immediate gratification. (Post your thoughts to a blog before you’ve even finished thinking them out.) As you can read, I think there is a time and place for that. There might be a place for wines in a box, even if not a place left in my frig. There is certainly a place for thinking outside of the box. But drawing the box in the first place defines what is inside and what is outside. We also need to question if we need a box at all. I have lots of friends who have decided they don’t need wine at all, and some who have painfully realized they cannot have wine at all. So I try to remain grateful that I can partake of a glass of wine, and I’ve also drunk wine out of a plastic Mardi Gras cup. I’d rather have my glass say “Riedel” in small letters on it then “Bacchus” in large purple and gold lettering, but I’m glad both exist.
posted by Chas Moore at
1:09 PM
3 Comments:
Nice entry. Check it: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/is-box-or-bottle-greener.php
A friend was drinking from one the other night. Guess there's a positive to being one of the one's who can't have wine any more...
Good commentary on this new trend Chas. Just last weekend, I was camping and decided to try a reasonably priced, but not cheap($10)"carton/box" wine--FRENCH RABBIT Chardonnay. I was surprised with how good it was. Still, I was suspect at it touting to be "GREEN" because of easier shipping. It says it is recyclable, but isn't glass easier and more readily re-used? The question of what is the "greener" option is always more complex than the marketers want you to believe. ~Tina McG.
Actually, we discovered a delightful little nuance about BoxWine at a group trip to Clear Lake in the early 80s. If you blow up the plastic bag after cutting it out of the box, the wine will float of its own accord around to everyone on their rafts. - Nancy N.
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