I have noticed wine kegs are popping up at some wine bars. What type of wines should one expect from a keg. Seems like a type of box wine to me.
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
The use of kegs, or wine on tap, is a fairly recent phenomenon in its present form. Normally, a restaurant uses a stainless steel container such as those for beer or soda syrup. Unlike bag-in-box, which utilizes a vacuum to remove air from the bag, wine in a keg is protected by inert gas (argon or nitrogen). Interest in kegs for on-premise service is being driven by various considerations, especially environmental ones. The kegs, which can be refilled, offer substantial savings in packaging, waste and carbon footprint. Interest in kegs is certainly linked as well to the fact that better quality wines are now available in this format. It certainly helps if the restaurant is within easy delivery range of a wine region - and so kegs tend to make locavores happy. For diners, this new generation of wines on tap can be very positive, if the wine has been selected with care and the restaurant pays attention to quality control issues such as service temperature and cleanliness of the system. By the way, there is also a far more interesting selection of bag-in-box wines, which once were thought of as strictly low end. There is really no reason better wines can't be available in boxes or kegs - if the producer is willing and properly equipped, and the public is open to the idea.
