Franzia
Encyclopedia
Franzia is a brand of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 produced by The Wine Group
The Wine Group
The Wine Group, known for its Franzia "wine in a box," is the United State's third-largest wine company, by volume, behind Constellation Brands and the E&J Gallo Winery. The company was founded in 1981 with a management buyout of the wine assets of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York...

, known for its box wine
Box wine
A box wine is a wine packaged as a Bag-In-Box. Such packages contain a plastic bladder protected by a box, usually made of corrugated fiberboard.- History :...

s sold in 3 and 5-liter cartons. Franzia wines are quite inexpensive, making it well known and popular among college students in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Flavors include White Wine Chardonnay and Red Sangria. The Wine Group is the third largest wine company in the world, behind Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands, Inc., headquartered in Victor, New York, is the world’s leading wine company with a broad portfolio of widely admired premium brands across the wine, beer and spirits categories.-History and description:...

 and the DGP Wine Gallery. The Franzia brand today has no relationship with Fred Franzia of the Bronco Wine Company
Bronco Wine Company
The Bronco Wine Company is a vintner that produces wines under many brands and is based in Ceres, California. It is the fourth largest producer of wine in the United States....

, also known for its low-cost Charles Shaw wine
Charles Shaw wine
Charles Shaw is a brand of "extreme value" wine . Largely made from California grapes, Charles Shaw wines currently include Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Valdiguie in the style of Beaujolais nouveau, and limited quantities of Pinot Grigio...

s. The Franzia family sold the brand to Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 in 1973, and it was sold to The Wine Group in 1981.

Teresa Franzia

Teresa Franzia (May 30, 1879 – April 8, 1949), born Teresa Carrara, was the founder of the Franzia Wine Company. Franzia is known as the "wine in a box." Teresa started the company in 1906. Teresa's daughter Amelia Franzia Gallo was the wife of Wine Maker Ernest Gallo
Ernest Gallo
Ernest Gallo was the American co-founder of the E & J Gallo Winery. He was ranked 297th on the 2006 Forbes 400 list of billionaires. With his brother they founded the E.&J...

. Teresa loaned Ernest the money to start his company.
Franzia is known by many college age students for a popular drinking-game, simply referred to as simply The Bag." The task is for a group to finish the "bag" of Franzia by taking turns chugging and passing it around.

Noted Literary References

Annie Magz, of Arlington Heights, IL, is a world-renowned (and self-proclaimed) connoiseur of "cheap wine and cheap cigars." Miss Magz has noted Franzia in several of her publications including Boxes Vs. Bottles, Where Have All the College Students Gone?, Asshole: A History of American Drinking Games, and Living the High Life: How to Party on a Budget. She is currently in the process of completing a history of Franzia, Slappin' the Bag: A History of America's Favorite Boxed Wine (working title).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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