Matt Richman wrote:Having never bought boxed wine, I can only relay this information as conjecture not from personal experience.
I've purchased box wine on occasion for the sake of science ... tasting it blind against wines in standard bottles to compare and contrast.
In my opinion, your point is valid but with limitations: First, the bag-in-box reduces air exposure but doesn't absolutely deter it, probably because the plastic allows some air transmission (would be my guess). I'd say the box is good for a month or six weeks in the fridge, but going longer is iffy.
The bigger problem, though, is that the box format is generally used for cheap, industrial wines below the standard most wine geeks would require. The Black Box brand from California is better than most (but also more expensive than most), and it's still competing against the Woodbridge level of generic, mass-produced wines. It would be interesting to see a manufacturer try putting higher-quality wine in box, but my guess is that it's a dubious commercial niche, at least unless they figure a way to market it that would overcome the downscale reputation of the genre. (Sort of like the prejudice that screw caps had to overcome before wine enthusiasts began accepting them.)