To those who balked at screw caps, you’re in deep trouble. Yesterday’s KLWM blog (“Inspiring Thirst“) came with a question from the man himself: “would you buy a beautiful Vermentino [from Corsica]…similar to “E Prove Blanc” but in a five-liter box?” Kermit’s drinking inside the box.
According to Steve Kolpan on Wine, Professor and Chair of Wine Studies at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), “The ‘new’ box wines have caught on in the marketplace, and are the fastest-growing segment of wine sales in the United States, where they currently account for about 25% of all wine sales. Incidentally, in Australia nearly 40% of wine is sold in boxes, and in Denmark it’s more than 50%.”
But that’s not the point of today’s blog. Five liters is equivalent to 6 and 2/3rds bottles of wine. There’s no “bottle” terminology for a 5 liter container (that I know of) so I’m challenging you to come up with one (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see below). I’ll start you off: Jerobo(x)am. You get the idea and certainly, you’re more clever. Winner gets wine (without limiting myself to bottle, box or Tetra Pak at this point). You have til Monday.
| Term of Art | Volume | Bottle Equivalent (approx) |
| Split | 187 ml | 1/4 |
| Half-bottle | 375ml | 1/2 |
| Magnum | 1.5 liters | 2 |
| Double Magnum (Bordeaux) | 3 liters | 4 |
| Jeroboam (Champagne) | 3 liters | 4 |
| Jeroboam (Bordeaux) | 4.5 liters | 6 |
| Rehoboam (Champagne) | 4.5 liters | 6 |
| (Submit your suggestion by leaving a comment below.) | 5 liters | 6 and 2/3rds |
| Methuselah (Champagne) | 6 liters | 8 |
| Imperial (Bordeaux) | 6 liters | 8 |
| Salmanazar | 9 liters | 12 |
| Balthazar | 12 liters | 16 |
| Nebuchadnezzar | 15 liters | 20 |
The folks at KLWM want to hear from you on the question of piqued interest for a 5L box of wine, so please let them know here. They say they “don’t have a price for the five-liter box at this time, but it would certainly be cheaper than a bottle of E Prove [just shy of $17/btl]. Kermit thinks the wine is a nice tasty dry white and will be a great value. …You could keep the box in your fridge for a month or so nestled besides your PBR.”
