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Hardy's Nottage Hill FreshCase (First Look)

This new wine box called the FreshCase is not in the shops till November the 1st but I’ve managed to get my hands on a couple to drink.. Err.. I mean to review.

Drinking wine from a box reminds me of my time in Australia (they are called Goons there) where we recycled enough of the wine bags to build a raft but were not that clear of head to actually sail it anywhere.

This is not a wine box in any conventional sense. This seems to me to be the next generation of bulk wine container. Don’t get me wrong. I love the traditional aspect of drinking wine from a bottle but there seem to be a few features and benefits of drinking wine from a container like this that I’d not considered. Add that to the fact this is not just any old plonk but wine I like to drink.. and the idea becomes even more attractive.

So.. Would you consider drinking wine like this..? Would it make you drink more/less? Could you see yourself taking the box apart to recycle? (That would be a must for me.)

I really enjoy wines from other parts of the world and do think about the door to door environmental impact of indulging in such pleasures. If this is going to lighten the load in more ways than one, I see it as a good thing. Also, as the wine lasts 6 weeks after opening, it also means I’m not going to waste wine on the one hand, or finish a bottle just because it’s there on the other.

I have only opened the Red Nottage Hill Cabernet Shiraz and it works well. It looks like the white Chardonnay has a different system allowing it to lie down in the fridge.  I didn’t pay for this particular wine but could see myself shelling out £19.99 when it’s finally released. I think it’s a move in the right direction.

There’s a fresh twitter account for @FreshCase here

UPDATE:

Result! Leave a comment on the blog and if you would like to try the case and wine @FreshCase have a few samples they can send out to UK bloggers.

Please include your twitter name in the comment and follow @FreshCase so they can contact you.

Fresh Case offer

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wow, this looks really interesting and a much better alternative to all those glass bottles I seem to end up with. I would love to give the new box a try and determine if there is any difference in the taste @richardmackney

  3. Another great post Doc.As a wine drinker i’ve always loved box of wines for parties etc, they are so convenient. However they’ve never really worked out when keeping them for the odd glass every once in a while. The taste at the end is in no way like the taste should be.I’d love to have a try of this – where can i buy it?Chris

  4. Yes please I’d love to. I’m @katiemoffat on twitter. I’m sceptical so prove me wrong @freshcase 🙂

  5. Very useful video, though for me when spending over £10 on a bottle(Or box) of wine, I always buy based on tastings I’ve been too, either formal events or day to day offerings from the wine shops current open bottles, so convincing merchants to get behind the idea is key. Would be nice to have decent wine in a bottle though as at summer festivals where they don’t allow glass the choice is very limited currently.

  7. @freshcase Would be pretty interested in looking at the green credentials of any new way of packaging wine, @hannahnicklin

  8. I’m off to @wineshow09 tomorrow, would certainly like to compare @freshcase with what’s on offer there (@edent)

  9. I’d certainly be interested in giving this a go. Anything that reduces the volume of stuff in my recycling bin without impacting on quality has to be a good thing! I’m @steverumsby…

  10. Ohh id love to give it a go, im used to reviewing beers on beerreviews.co.uk so wine would make a fantastic change!

  11. Cheers Guys.. Looks like the free wine from @Freshcase has gone for the moment but check back after the weekend.

  12. Well, can’t believe I missed out. As I have 3 small children my wife and I have to drink a lot of wine. Of course, being quite firmly middle-class, we also have to reduce, reuse and recycle.In fact, we’ve recently been trying to work out what to with all the wine bottles. For some time our lounge looked like a bad Italian restaurant with candle-topped wine bottles everywhere. If we lived by the sea we might consider putting notes in them and throwing far, far out. Probably best not, I reckon we could fill the channel in a week or two.The FreshCase _looks_ like a great idea. Getting free wine (in a new style package to review) sounds like an awesome idea.Hopefully some new ones to give away after the weekend… in time for half-term…

  15. An excellent idea! There’s an Australian wine-grower, Andrew Peace, who also uses a boxed product for a more environmentally friendly ‘transport-cost’ solution – he uses 1L Tetrapacks, so you definitely save space with packing. It’s a much more low-tech solution to the problem though, and I doubt it would keep wine fresh for even nearly 2 weeks. Also, being a plasticised card product, I don’t think many places can recycle it (certainly not near me). The Fresh Case looks like a really neat solution to most issues to do with Wine transportation and consumption. I assume the recycling costs, when compared to glass, are lower for the casing, and even if not, both the transport packing, and the packing of the waste must be more efficient. Nice one Fresh Case :). Will hunt one out in November for a trial…

  16. Consumption, there, was more about ‘packing consumption’ rather than product consumption. I don’t think I have any problems drinking the stuff ;).

  17. You know the drill.. If you are a UK blogger who has not yet benefited from the generous gift of wine from Hardy’s & FreshCase.. Let me know below that you would like to try out the new Freshcase and the 10 bloggers/twitterati will be picked to have review packs of wine sent to their home.. Be quick though!

  18. Excellent idea, I’d be up for trying it out! I always wish there were more interesting reds in boxes, which makes it easier to have a cheeky glass on a weeknight without feeling obliged to plow through the whole bottle (and wake up the next morning with a sore head!)Very curious to see what the packaging is like…@Verohttp://thatcanadiangirl.co.uk

  19. I’d be up for it – sounds great. :-)voidspace.org.uk/blog is the blog and @voidspace on Twitter.

  22. Your update says the wine’s gone. But their latest tweet suggests not. So I’ll give it a go if there’s any avaialble. My bog is at http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk and I’m currently a Virgin wine member – happy to switch to massive cases if I like it! And my twitter is @malcolmcoles (I appear to be logged in via posterous here oddly).

  24. like the idea but what exactly is the #freshcase made of? Glass bottle is a doddle to recycle and I’m not sure it is really a problem that needs to be fixed. But I’ll watch this space in the hope of being wrong!

  25. Sounds interesting – would love to give it a try if there is any left! My wine related twitter stuff is on @whiteandred Fraserhttp://www.redwine.co.uk/

  30. OK Guys.. thanks for the comments and requests for free wine.. It’s all gone now. 🙂

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