What do you get if you carve up a bottle of wine into four equal units.? Well a slightly awkward 750ml divided by 4 = 187.5ml.

Ok, so that is thoroughly dull, until you have seen what I chanced upon this lunchtime.

I casually strolled into Marks & Spencer to find a snack and went to stand in one of those interminable queues. There was a bit of banter and excited gossip around a portion of that annoying airport queuing guidance tape where M&S try and entice you with all things 'naughty but nice', like Walnut Whips and Percy Pig chews. There was a new addition causing a stir -

A rack of wine plastic glasses, full of wine. They were sealed with a sort of foil top.

This immediately rang a bell in my starved, parched mind (I was tempted to eat the sandwich in the queue, and find a straw to puncture one of the wine seals 'Kia Ora' style to wash it down). I posted about these 'glastic' wine containers back in August 2009 as they first came to my attention on Dragon's Den.

Back to the magic number. The plastic glass contains 187ml (so not quite a quarter of a bottle) of Le Froglet (I purchased the Shiraz Vin de pays D'oc variety) for the princely sum of £2.25.

Le Froglet appears to be a lower end wine, often reduced from just under £5.00 per bottle to just under £4.00. Lets do the maths....

I am going on a picnic say -

I buy 4 pre-sealed plastic glasses of Le Froglet at £2.25 = £9.00

or

I buy one screw top bottle of Le Froglet (say £4.99) with four M&S wine 'glass' glasses (£1.00 each) = £8.99

Nothing in it unless you bring your own glasses to the party, you prefer to take home 'glass' glasses rather than the PET plastic ones, or you will relish the extra 2ml you would gain from a bottle verses four 187ml glasses.

Judging by the buzz in the shop I suspect that these may well be a hit. They look so off the wall that curiosity will force a purchase (much like myself) and then good old bourgeois convenience will take over.

The problem I have is that the wine is not particularly interesting. I think it is just a random 'own' brand for lack of being able to find out the provenance of the mysterious 'Le Froglet'.

This is a new idea though, and what it does have the ability to do is to give the consumer a realistic portion, a more manageable drinking quantity which saves you spoiling a whole bottle for a glass. It also provides you with a nice collection of plastic picnic glasses.

It says on the foil 'Drink within 3 months of purchase'. Not a problem. If you are stupid enough to tuck these glasses away in your cellar for a year then you are totally missing the point.

It does change the perception of wine, and could make a 'ready meal for one' a richer experience.

The downsides are of course the greater potential for waste. Let's hope people take heed of the plastic base which has engraved on it 'Please reuse or recycle'.

I suppose I am not a major fan of plastic anything, especially wine bottles, but seeing this concept in the flesh adds a bit of fun to plastic potential.

See my tasting note.

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