Tate pioneers Bordeaux in a box

Hamish Anderson, wine buyer for the Tate, is to start selling a Bordeaux red blend in a box at the gallery group’s various restaurants.

Indigo in it’s Apple-inspired packaging

The wine, Indigo, a 2012 blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet hails Château Civrac in the Côtes de Bourg and was blended by Anderson specifically for the project.

Mark Hellyar, owner of Château Civrac, is keen to change consumer perceptions of bag-in-box wine with Indigo.

“We’ve been making a contemporary Merlot called Element for four years. I’d been looking at the BiB format for some time but wasn’t sure about people’s perception of it,” Hellyar told the drinks business.

“When the opportunity to work with Hamish arose, it was the perfect time for me to combine a contemporary Cabernet/Merlot blend with my love of art,” he added.

Hellyar chose the name “Indigo” for the wine in a nod to his childhood, which was spent on the Cornish coast.

“I like to choose unusual names for my wines and I grew up next to the sea so Indigo seemed a perfect fit. Cabernet has a fantastic blue bloom on it, so it’s also a nod to that,” he told db.

Hellyar enlisted the help of his Padstow-based artist friend David Pearce to design the artwork on the box, which depicts bobbing boats in a harbour.

Self-taught and widely exhibited internationally, Pearce’s primitive paintings combine a spontaneity of composition with an exciting use of colour.

“I decided to package the wine in a modern white box inspired by the way Apple presents its products. I love Pearce’s simple, evocative style that resonates with my own ambitions for my wine. The work is open to interpretation, which empowers the viewer in the same way wine empowers the taster,” Hellyar told db.

“I’m keen to change the perception of bag-in-box wine from a cheap and nasty product to a modern, environmentally friendly package that can house a quality product,” he added.

Housed in a three-litre box, the 13% abv Indigo will go on sale by the glass at the Tate group’s restaurants next week and will also be on sale in the Tate Modern shop.

Having produced an initial run of 1,000 boxes, Hellyar also plans to sell the wine via Cornwall-based distributor Wadebridge Wines.

“There is no need for bag-in-box wine to only be associated with the bottom end of the market, hence my desire to house it in a posh box printed with high quality inks. While it is designed for immediate drinking, the wine will happily keep for a year,” he said.