
Wow – has it really been 7 months since the Cork Scrooge last opined on the state of value red wine? My goodness, how time flies.
I had hoped to start back up in the new year after our move to sunny California. I had expected to have a plethora of great value wines at my finger tips here in America’s red wine cradle, and, to be sure, I have enjoyed some mighty fine value vino these past few months.
I have been keeping great notes however somehow the hectic pace of moving across country and having a 3 year old under foot have kept me from sitting down and hammering out a few new posts. I will do better in the coming weeks.
As most readers know I rarely bother to review bad wine. There just isn’t a point. I figure most don’t need to know what not to buy – they want recommendations on a great value. Occasionally a wine comes along that is so bad, so down-right disappointing that I break from the norm to provide a community service warning. Tonight was one of those nights as I allowed myself to once again be lured in by the siren’s song of a value old vine zinfandel from Lodi, California.
I should have known better. The Lodi temptresses have lured me in before with their false promises, colorfully written reviews and regional “gold medal” claims.
Tonight’s wine was nothing short of the most disgusting $11 bottle of wine I have ever had the displeasure of tasting and Albertson’s should be ashamed to sell this liquid nightmare.
I am not going to waste time discussing the separate tastings I took of this wine over the course of the hour as I foolishly believed that no $11 wine could truly be this “undrinkable”. Not great? Sure. Bad even? It’s happened. But how bad would a wine have to be to be unable to finish my glass awful? The 2012 Predator Old Vine Zinfandel is how bad. The only thing this wine was preying on was my taste-buds as each successive sip seemed to seek out and destroy my desire to taste and swallow.
I don’t need to wax poetic about an over-oaky or too fruit forward taste to describe the sensation that overpowers ones senses upon contact with this 2010 wine. All one needs to do is close their eyes, think back to their childhood, and recall the toe curling taste of the discount brand cherry cough syrup you used to choke back during the winter cold season. That’s exactly how this wine tasted. Yes, that bad.
Save yourself the $11. If you really have a craving, head down to the local CVS and pick up a bottle of cherry cough syrup, it will be cheaper and at least will deliver what it promises.