Susan scored this wine: 90/100

Susan scored this wine: 88/100

Susan scored this wine: 80/100

I bought this sparkling wine on sale (about $12), in the first week of the new year when the LCBO was selling off their didn't-sell-for-new-years stock. We drank this after a dinner of steak, garlic potatoes and mixed veggie and berry salad. Maybe I should say, we drank half the bottle after dinner. The other half went back into the fridge to be mixed tomorrow with orange juice for mimosas. If it was better than mediocre, we'd have finished off the bottle that evening. It started off with a strong taste of pear or pineapple, and a strange single flash of toast. After that, it seemed flat. Bubbly wine usually makes you feel the alcohol quicker, but this took a few flutes to feel much of anything, and 30 minutes later, it's gone. Not a great romantic wine (it made me burp!)but maybe good if you have a crowd you want to impress with the loud popping noise as you open it. Just don't expect to impress anyone with the taste.

Susan scored this wine: 80/100

Susan reviewed this wine:

Everything I read said this was a light red wine, but the first sip packs a hell of a wallop. I've read recommendations that it be served with a meal of pig's feet, but I opted for a steak. After the wine has had a chance to aerate a little you can taste layers of flavour. This is the first time I can honestly say that I can taste layer upon layer of flavour in a wine. It's got some berry, something generically herbal, and, well, some other flavours I can't pin down. But, within the 3rd or 4th sip, I lost all the layers and got a tannin tang. A subsequent sip gave me the flavours again. All this really just boils down to this: this is a great wine if you want to sit with someone you love and talk about wines. You can have a sip, share what it is you're tasting, and then have another sip and it won't taste exactly the same. You'll be talking for an hour about the wine if you concentrate on it. If all you want to do is relax, eat, drink and be merry, the wine is okay too.