Budget Wine of the Week: Sterling Vitner’s Collection Merlot
Thursday
Apr 22, 2010
Price: $13.00
Sweet to Dry Scale: 9 or possiby even 10*
This week’s wine was…not good. My husband and I shared it with friends of ours with very similar tastes to our own, and no one liked it at all. It was way too dry, and the aftertaste was very very bitter. It tasted like it had been open for three days already and turned to vinegar, when in fact it had been open only a couple of hours. There really isn’t anything redeeming to say! Both of the guys drinking it love dry wine and neither of them were impressed or would drink it again. Both of us girls who like wine a little sweeter couldn’t even finish a small glass..together! I would suggest staying away from this one!
Bang for your buck: No way. Not buying this one again!
*The Sweet to Dry Scale tells you just how dry the wine is, based on a number that my husband and I agree on. The higher the number, the dryer the wine. (0=sweet, 10=dry) My husband likes wines that are a 9 or 10. I like wines that are a 5 or 6.
Want non wine related deals? Check out The Budget Mommy’s Facebook Page!
Comments
Meg
April 27th, 2010 at 10:36 am
will have to try that one- i tend to lean toward the sweeter ones as well- twin springs sweet red is nice and its 5 -6 bucks
Daria
April 29th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Hmmm. Granted some wines are just not that good. I appreciate the honesty and varied tastes.
Technically though (I am curious), perhaps it was actually off or tainted? I would like to know if you had tried another bottle for the sake of averages to see if another bottle was any different. Was the cork cracked or dry? Perhaps some air got in the bottle somewhere in the process? I know I have had a wine that was just awful – tasted like vinegar too. So I took it back to the LCBO opened with my reciept. They actually appreciated my honesty and gave me another bottle. I did select an entirely different brand. But now I think what would it have been like if I actually had a second chance at the same brand? Maybe it would have been ok? Not sure. Brings a whole new meaning to cork admiration and sniffing. Then there are the screw caps. Those are for a week after the kids.
Just offering some feedback as there are some wines that are just not good and then there are some that have unfortunately become tainted in the bottling process. How often? Probably rare. Who knows. Kudos to the LCBO for honouring that anyhow.
Susan
April 29th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I agree with Daria – sounds like you got a bad bottle. Sterling wines are among my favorite “Tuesday night wine” choices – not that expensive, and always good. I prefer the cab over the merlot, but both are excellent and never have a hint of vinegar.
Try again before you write this one off. Maybe try a different wine shop in case you ran into a bad batch.
Saundra
May 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am
Try the Red Diamond Merlot. Runs around $11 a bottle and is always good. If you like a lighter wine, maybe go for a good pinot noir.
Angie
May 5th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Can you recommend a Merlot that is good? I haven’t really found any I like and ever since the movie Sideways, I kind of snob it anyway. Pinot Noir is my favorite. It is the most difficult grape to grow and therefore, I love it. I’m good with complicated:)
Melissa
May 7th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I’ve had issues with bottles of Sterling before… very disappointing that it seems to be an ongoing problem.
PANSY19REESE
June 21st, 2010 at 12:46 am
People in the world receive the business loans from various creditors, because it’s simple and comfortable.
Corbin
September 25th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Beautiful theme. I am just starting out learning about Blogengine so seeing themes and info like this is very helpful.