In early March, the wine press got a preview of Underdog Wine Merchants’ next major initiative: Octavin, the home wine bar. To unveil the new package, Adam Richardson, the company’s director of winemaking, hosted a tasting at a penthouse apartment on Madison Avenue in New York City, where the five brands currently available in the new octagon-shaped package were on display inside the fridge and on a marble countertop.

The new, patented package consists of a recyclable outer cardboard carton, a vacuum-packed interior plastic bag and a drip-free spout. It was in development for a year before being finalized, and it is designed to assist retailers in meeting corporate environmental guidelines.

“We’ve given the traditional 3-liter cask a new shape and re-worked the tap,” said Richardson, adding that the company is intently focused on freshness.

Beginning in May, retailers who sell items from the portfolio of the Livermore, Calif.-based company, an autonomous subsidiary of The Wine Group, will have several new Octavin facings to merchandise. Among them: Pinot Evil (Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir blends sourced from Hungary), Big House (white and red blends made in Soledad in Monterey County, from the 2009 and 2008 vintages respectively), Monthaven (Central Coast 2008 Chardonnay and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, in addition to a Merlot from Monterey), Silver Birch (2009 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s -Marlborough region) and Boho Vineyards 2008 Old Vine Zinfandel from the Central Coast. Some of the brands, specifically Big House and Pinot Evil, will continue to be sold in bottles as well.

“More people are moving from bottle to cask,” said Richardson, who pointed out that the introduction coincides with the continued growth of 3-liter cask sales. As of Feb. 21 of this year, these grew by 19% in dollar sales over the previous year, according to Information Resources Inc. scan data.

The inaugural release of the new package encompasses more than 160,000 cases among the five brands and offers some significant environmental benefits: reducing packaging waste by 85% and carbon emissions by 55% over glass. (The Boho Octavin features the additional eco-friendly attributes of Kraft paper and soy-based ink).

“The Octavin Home Wine Bar package is a breakthrough for the wine industry, which is perhaps one of the most vulnerable of any food and beverage producer to ‘carbon criticism,’ due to its historical reliance on heavyweight glass packaging and its failure to migrate to more environmentally sensitive packages,” said Laurie Lewis Jones, a spokesperson for The Wine Group.

Underdog Wine Merchants, which is known for cheeky branding and eye-catching graphics, was able to transfer several branded looks from its labels onto the eight-sided containers. The Boho Vineyards Octavin is wrapped in the brand’s henna-like tattoo, while the Big House box features the familiar multi-colored sketch of the slammer under a searchlight.

“Think of screwcaps,” Richardson said. “Three years ago, people were opposed to them. We’re aiming for something like that to happen with the premium cask. The validation screwcaps have received is helping people take the step toward Octavin.”

Octavins of Pinot Evil and Big House carry a suggested retail price of $21.99, while the Silver Birch, Monthaven and Boho Vineyards boxes are priced at $23.99. Pinot Evil is not vintage-dated.

Collectively, the brands constitute a laboratory’s worth of blending wizardry. The Big House Red blends as many as 20 different varieties from as many as 40 different lots—among them Grenache, Syrah and Petite Syrah. All bottling (into the box) is done at the company’s Ripon, Calif., winery, an arrangement that achieves another reduction in carbon emissions from transport and packaging waste, because imported wines are shipped to be boxed locally, rather than being shipped already packaged.

“One fact that should be very appealing to the customers is that they can buy four bottles of wine for the price of three,” said Georgetta Dane, winemaker for the Big House winery, who describes herself as a “green person.”

Because she has saved so much on packaging with the new format, Dane said she has more in her budget for barrels. “The product remains fresh for six weeks, and the quality level is the same for the first glass as it is for the fifth,” she said.