ABV: 21%
Price: This one is a bit pricey at $21 per bottle
My overall, general impression...sweeeeet and boooooooze.
So, a little back story...
Once upon a time, my parents had a house. They were moving to a different house. They did not want to move the booze and wine from their massive wine cellar. Instead, they had all of us "kids" come over and drink/take it home with us. Long story short, I have a bunch of random, free-to-me alcohol. So I am reviewing it even though it isn't normally something this blog would cover. Also, suck it. This is my blog and I will review what I want.
Also, this is not technically wine, but more like a wine-based spirit (hence the high alcohol content). It is made by mixing brandy with wine, juice, sugar, and some other stuff. Basically, this winery did the same thing that I used to in college. My friends told me to stop playing bartender. This winery sells it for 20 bucks a bottle. I missed my calling.
Moving on...
Step one: Look at the wine. The wine looked nice. It was a pretty shade of red, clear and not at all murky. It was lighter than a red, but did have some small sediment. This could be due to age. I have no idea how long my parents had this wine sitting in the cellar, but it could have been 10 years or more. Silly parents. Drink your wine!
Step two: Swirl the wine, note the viscosity. This wine was visibly quite viscous. Probably because of the sugar in it. Makes sense.
Step three: Sniff the wine. This wine smells like alcohol and cranberries. This also makes sense. Word for the wise- sniff this one from a distance. So much alcohol. I cannot stress this enough.
Step four: Taste the wine! Yay! This wine tastes pretty good. It is very sweet and very fruity. I chilled it and it was still cloyingly sweet. If you like cranberries and sweet wine, you will effing love this. If not, you almost certainly will not. I felt like there was not a whole lot of complexity here.
Step five: Drink a bunch more wine. Ugh. Do not overdo it with this wine. It's really more like a cordial. Seriously. I got through about 2 ounces before I was so very done with this. Sip. Do not gulp. Maybe do it as a shot. That might be good. Eat something with it to cut through the sweetness. Have a fruit platter. Or some pretzels. Something. Anything.
Overall impression: I am a Connecticut native, and we New Englanders love our cranberries. I did enjoy this wine, but like most desserts, consume it in small portions. Or do shots of it if you want to get tanked. Maybe it would be less cloying over ice? I might try that next time.
