Whatever You Do, Chill Your Boxed Wine

During the frantic holiday season, you may find yourself reaching for boxed wine to serve your wine-hungry guests at the party. (After all, we know the bag-in-a-box better satiates the crowd!) But a new study shows that boxed wine is tricky to store and keep cool. 

The University of California, Davis studied boxed wine (rough life) and found that chilling boxed wines is crucial for serving. Why? When wine is stored at higher temperatures (about 64 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), it loses its freshness and begins to age. When the researchers tested the freshness of boxed wine, synthetic corked wine, and natural corked wine, the boxed wines "aged significantly faster" than their bottled counterparts. The boxed wine became "darker and developed sherry-like, dried fruit-like, and vinegar-like attributes," said the researchers. 

So what's the ideal serving temperature for boxed wine: about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. But it turns out all wines aged better when kept cool — all the more reason to pop your wine (boxed or bottled) in the fridge.