I tried this wine blind, and managed to spot it despite not having tried it before. Looking at this brown liquid in the glass, it had a thick, liqueur like consistency. On the nose, the smell was initially of hedgerows, but then rapidly went onto an aroma of strawberry scented eraser that you used to borrow of a girl in primary school. Then there was a little bit of aniseed liqueur, but very diluted. The palate was like a thin Amaro, no real evidence that this was once wine, or at least 92% of it was, but it has a very unpleasant, sticky texture, but without the sweetness or acidity that would make it bearable. It has an awful aniseed/liquorice flavour with some slight spice and the
only thing that makes this not the worst 'wine' I've ever tried is that it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. 2/10
May 2009
A cheap Pinot from California, but it was all about sweet, confected fruit. Smelled a lot like Mr Sheen furniture polish! The palate was biter, with little fruit, burnt jam and yet very astringent. This could be the worst wine I have tried recently, though I have been informed that it doesn’t taste that bad normally. So how bad does it normally taste? 3/10
Weird as hell. With a label that looked like a person taken over by an alien in Doctor Who, the Bastardo grape doesn’t have much colour. It looked like a light rose, but what you got was full on herbaceous raspberries and a hint of orange. The palate was the same, a bit of cherry bubblegum and orange touches again, with hot, spicy flavours. It gets a bit sickly after a few mouthfuls. Commercially, label excepted, it is dead in the water. As an experience it is great if not a brilliant wine! 6/10
