OK. If you're from CT like Julie & me, you might know a thing or two about Geno Auriemma. One, he's the big man on campus as the coach of the UCONN women's basketball team. Two, he's got this fast-food restaurant called "Fast Break" in the Mohegan Sun casino. See, I like wine, I don't follow basketball, but I digress. Before I opened this bottle of wine, the only reason I knew anything at all about Geno is because he makes his own pasta sauce, sold locally in CT in a fresh-foods store called Stew Leonard's (which I am always in).
My favorite place to buy wine is Stew Leonard's, mostly because it doesn't remind me of a warehouse. I noticed Geno's wine for sale, and the manager assured me that it sells well - so well, he emptied 50 cases between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I wanted to try it, and it's a cheap buy at $8.99.
The night I opened this wine, I decided to pour two glasses - one in a traditional glass, one in a red champagne coupe to let the wine breathe. (I have a beautiful decanter, but I never use it when I'm by myself, only when I'm in the company of some serious wine afficionados.) Looking at the wine in the traditional glass, it's a beautiful, clear purpley-red color with maybe two legs. The weird thing is that this wine has almost no scent. It's unnerving.
Sadly, at first sip, this wine tasted like rat poison. It's acidic, thin & bitter-tasting. I waited 30 seconds, cleared my throat & tried again. This time, all I tasted was sugar water, like someone had emptied a couple of packets of Pez in a glass of water & let it dissolve.
Once I'd finished the first glass, I waited a good half hour before attempting the second glass (the one in the champagne coupe). Sadly, this glass tasted no different from the first. Geno's wine is not a fine wine that will mature or ripen with decanting.
On the bright side, this wine is so thin that it slides down your throat. It's low alcohol content (I believe it's 12.5%, but it could be 13%) and thin texture makes the wine feels like it's sliding down your throat. Despite its acidity, I easily swallowed down two glasses without it even registering that I was drinking two glasses of wine.
The upshot? After drinking the two glasses, I performed alcohol abuse & poured the rest of the bottle down the drain. Blasphemy, I know, but I also believe that there are better bottles of wine on the market for $10 or less. A few come to mind right now, ones that I will hopefully review in the future. Bottom line? Take your ten bucks and put it towards something else. Oh, Geno? You're a phenomenal coach & I love you for it. Don't quit that job.
Cheers!
Kate
PS: I don't know why the computer won't let me rotate photos. Live & learn for the next blog, I guess. Sorry about your necks, people.
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