If You Like Licorice…
Very rarely (and I mean rarely) do I meet a wine that I absolutely just can not drink. I didn’t even make it through half a glass of this and neither did Andrew (my boyfriend and wine drinking partner). Although there are times when we say, “Eh… this is alright,” we still drink it. We poured this down the sink. The first thing that I noticed was how dark the wine was. It was almost black in the glass and it smelled a little bit like tar. That should have been my first clue. I let it sit for a while because I thought that this might be one that needed some air. Obviously I didn’t give it enough. I’m not saying that this is a bottle that no one would enjoy. The flavors were just all flavors I really dislike. It tasted like a mix of rasperry liqueur (think Chambord) and black licorice (think Jagermeister). I literally shivered. This is not a bottle I will buy again. The best part about this bottle is the pretty label.
August 11, 2008 at 7:36 pm
whoa nelly! sounds like somebody had a tainted bottle. Cycles Gladiator is certainly not undrinkable! In fact, it sounds nothing like what you describe! It’s a terrific wine in its price range. You should either familiarize yourself with common characters of corked/otherwise tainted bottles, or try a wine twice before you rip it to shreds!
the good news is it sounds like you have a palate that recognizes a problem when there is one. now you need to harness that ability!
cheers.
August 11, 2008 at 8:17 pm
mle,
First let me say “Thank You” for taking the time to look through my site! I appreciate any and all input. That’s how I believe that we all learn the most – from each other. Next let me say that I think that we are all entitled to our own opinions whether positive or negative. That being said, I will definitely take your advice and try this wine again. Hopefully you were right and I just got a bad bottle! If I have a better experience this time around I will gladly retract my previous review. Again, thank you for stopping by Houston Uncorked and I hope you check in again! Cheers!
August 18, 2008 at 7:21 pm
As promised, I tried this wine again. Let me start by saying that I do think there was something wrong with the last bottle we purchased but let me finish by saying that we still didn’t like it. I still tasted those same flavors but in the last bottle they seemed concentrated. This time it was just a milder version. We all sipped on it a little before dinner and then switched to something else. Most of the wine never made it out of the bottle. I am glad that I did try it again, though, because it was a good lesson in how different each bottle can be. The prominent flavors in this wine just happen to be my least favorite. I’m sure that (as is obvious by the earlier comment) that many people would really enjoy this wine. I just didn’t.
September 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Fair enough! Thanks for taking the time to re-try it. And keep up the good work on the blog!