One year on and New Zealand's first bag in the box wine is not only going strong but has grown to 55% of online sales and to see the launch of a new bag in box wine, Dice by Dicey Rosé.
The name Dicey makes for a convenient pun for the new take on an old type of packaging with the new bag in box wine designed to look like a dice. It is also a two litre bag in box rather than three litre package, which means it is consumed in a briefer timeframe, allowing the wine to retain freshness. From my own tastings of both the inaugural 2021 Dice by Dicey Pinot Noir and the new 2023 Dice by Dicey Rosé, the wine in these boxes remains fresh for at least three weeks. I have not yet put it to the test beyond that time frame but it has been impressive to me to see that new bag in box wines are not at all like their forerunners, which still made up 70% of wine sales in New Zealand when I began writing about wine, in 1994.
Dicey is the name of the two brand owners, brothers Matt (winemaker) and James (viticulturist), a team who see themselves as caretakers of their grapes and the produce they make from them. They are using Liquipure Ultra recycle ready film and fittings, making the inner bag recyclable as a soft plastic.
“There are a lot of clever people out there working on solutions and improvements for packaging across all categories. We’re keen to ensure that we evolve alongside the technology, so we do right by our wine, our customers and our environment.” says Matt Dicey.
“The next step is helping support better recycling access for soft plastics and that’s something we’re keen to work with other New Zealand businesses to improve.”
He says that 40% of the carbon that is emitted from making wine comes not from the farming or running of tractors or other farm machinery but rather the production of the glass bottle. Only 13% of that is attributed to the shipping.
"The inert qualities of glass do make it the perfect receptacle for wine that is destined to be cellared. However, for the large quantities of wine that is consumed within a month or two of purchase those storage attributes of glass become redundant."
