The First Vine Red Wine Blend (Sonoma, CA) is one cheap glass of wine. But there are times when you know only a cheap wine will do. Those times are when you don't care what you're drinking — you just want something vaguely alcoholic in your throat and so you should not spend much money to get it. Those times are also the times in which you've been waiting forever for something stressful to be over and it finally, finally is and you're too relieved to buy alcohol you want to savor – you just want to drink it.
But enough about me. This wine smells mildly of leather, cherry, and sulfur. Yes, I said sulfur. But I meant chemicals and plastic. The nose is all-around unremarkable unless you count that it should serve as a warning. Drinking it is a little more exciting. It's heavy on the leather, and that sulfite taste is strong. So if you don't mind a bit of chemical with your grape, you'll be all right with this wine. It mostly reminds me of sharp herbs, almost like munching on a curry leaf. For fruit, my husband tastes grape, I taste cherry with thin vanilla but agree that the aftertaste is grapey.
I could do without the chemical element, but honestly, I've had much worse $3.99 bottles of wine.
Other Bloggers' Thoughts:
This was a very interesting wine to smell. I was immediately able to detect the Syrah in the blend….I was also able to smell that they packed this thing with fruits, but I wasn't able to figure out individual smells. Maybe a couple different berries and currant. I couldn't really distinguish the nose very well. The wine was lightly acidic at the start, but it went away a few seconds after I started the tasting. There was a blackberry and cherry flavor near the end of the sip. The finish was short, earthy, and was where I tasted the Syrah the most….Rating: Try Again
Could only find Wine on the Dime's thoughts on this one. But hey, he liked it a lot more than I did. I think it's safe to say we had different vintages, and I'd confirm it if a vintage had been offered on the wine bottle.
Reviewed 24 Oct 13.
