We continue our search for boxed wines that prove the industry's claim that the boxes now have better wine in them. Pour Haus, in fact, claims to deliver the "ultimate oenophile experience." This doesn't end well.
Here's a boxed wine that makes naked appeals to hipsters. The box of Pour Haus Australian Sauvignon Blanc includes architectural renderings of what appear to be Brooklyn brownstones. The name Pour Haus invokes a microbrewery vibe. It says it is "wine on tap," just like at the craft brew joint. The label claims the wine is "Modern. Urban. Crafted. Cool."
It's always so sad when someone has to call themselves "cool."
Worse, the label claims the box delivers "the ultimate oenophile experience." That's a very dick-like word for "someone who loves wine." They are for some reason promising -- overpromising -- a connoisseur-level product.
For the equivalent of $3.75 per bottle! [$15 for a box that includes the equivalent of 4 bottles].
Here are Drink Smart, we take the punches so you don't have to.
Let's open that box
I'll make this fast: The wine is insipid -- pale, weak, lacking nearly any detail or nuance. Yes, it's lemony like most Sauvignon Blancs, but that's about it. A bit tart. I tried, hard, to coax stonefruit [peach, nectarine] aromas and flavors, and failed completely.
My wife said it was "watery." As usual, she's right.
This was not, to understate, the ultimate oenophile experience.
Pour Haus Sauvignon Blanc will not appeal to anyone who even fancies themselves "cool."
Final grade: C, grading on the boxed-wine curve.
Perhaps understandably, there appears to be no website for Pour Haus Wines in Ripon, California, where the box says the company is based. I don't blame the owners for lying low.
There may be boxed wines out there that prove that boxed wines are getting better. Pour Haus is not one of them. Our search will continue.