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Tandem wine is being test marketed in Belgian supermarkets,
where the 250mL cartons are selling at more than 1,000
a week. At €1.25 a tetra-pack container, the red,
white and rosé Bordeaux wines can be found amid
the snacks and salads, aimed at customers popping in
for a sandwich and eating "on the go".
The company hoping to launch the wine is not a multinational
with an American-inspired gimmick but a Bordeaux negociant,
Cordier Mestrezat marketing Grands Crus and other top-quality
wines.
A traditional wine lover might abhor the idea of sipping
wine through a straw-or a plastic bottle, carton or
a can. But there is some evidence that increasing numbers
of young people are indeed enticed by "alternative"
packaging, designed to boost a gloomy market. Drinking
from special straws is said to recreate the sensation
of tasting wine from a glass.
We are aware that the idea may seem controversial,"
said Pierre-Eric Sabatier, Cordier's director of exports.
"It's neither going to interest nor please everyone."
But he is convinced that new methods need to be tried
to encourage young people to drink wine sensibly - and
perhaps turn them away from the potentially more damaging
alternative - alcopops.
"Young people want something different from the
traditional lunchtime bottle on the table that their
parents and grandparents put out," he said.
Sales of "bag in box" wine cartons almost
quadrupled between 2001 and 2005, and a company selling
wine in little aluminium designer bottles is hoping
to double its sales this year.
However, a couple of studies carried out this year
by Vinexpo, Bordeaux and the wine merchants Castel Frères
found many young people wanted wine made more accessible,
but not trivialised. Wine was a symbol of maturity,
they concluded.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
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