After unpacking and putting away the gifts we received at our wedding shower this weekend, my fiance and I decided to sit down on the couch and try one of our newly-acquired beverages of choice. Since he's more of a beer man (and wouldn't so much as take a sip of my wine), his pick was Shiner Blonde, a golden lager made by the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas. He slowly poured it into one of his new beer mugs (fresh from the freezer), careful to not create the oh-so-undesirable foam on top, and took a drink...immediately followed by a cringe and a face he doesn't normally make while drinking beer. At this point, my interest was piqued (if only out of amusement)and I was distracted from my wine endeavor long enough to sample his beer, which he said reminded him too much of Bud Light & Clamato. I can't say I know what that tastes like, but to me it tasted quite a bit like Coors Light, albeit with a markedly bitter after taste. It definitely wasn't bad, but not something I would want to drink much of. After a couple more sips, I handed his beer mug back to him and continued in my quest for wine bliss.
I pulled the bottle from my fridge, where it has been chilling for a few weeks now, and went about opening it. You would think that by having prior experience with this particular wine, I would easily be able to remove the cap, but embarrassingly enough, I wasn't. You see, although I did graduate with a 4.0 from Texas Tech University, I sometimes lack the more common sort of sense that is much more useful in daily life. It is now safe to say that a foil cutter is only useful for opening corked wine bottles, because the screw cap variety have a tab that you pull to remove the foil! But I digress...
I rinsed out one of the glasses from my new Libbey Vintner's 12-Piece Wine Tasting Goblet Set (a great wedding gift from my parents!), a 13 1/2-ounce burgundy, and proceeded to pour myself a healthy glass of the Blackberry Merlot...Nevermind that I later discovered that in my relative cluelessness, the 14-ounce bordeaux would have been the better glass for a merlot! Nevertheless, I sat down on the couch with my loving almost-husband and proceeded through the Swirl-Sniff-Sip routine, which seemed to amuse my sweet, mocking fiance. As he laughed at me, I explained that I was not trying to act like a "rich person" as he accused, but rather, was trying to enjoy my wine more--to which he responded, "My point exactly!" Nevermind that the wine in question cost less than $4 for the bottle...
Anyway, the first sniff gave the expected blackberry overtones (duh), as well as a good amount of alcohol, despite the fact that it only contains 6% of the latter. As far as the texture goes, this wine was very refreshing. It has a thickness similar to juice, but it's not so thick that it coats the mouth. I found that it was fairly acidic with a hint of carbonation minus the bubbles; however, it is definitely primarily a sweet wine. The foremost flavor, of course, is blackberry, but I detected a hint of raspberry essence in it as well.
After repeating the tasting process a few times to see if I detected any other aromas/flavors/other qualities, I came to the conclusion that Arbor Mist Blackberry Merlot is a simple, straitforward wine (if you could truly consider it as such) without the complexity you find in more expensive wines.
The bottom line: Although it is, admittedly, a true embodiment of a "cheap" wine, I find that Arbor Mist's Blackberry Merlot has an appealing taste and refreshing texture, and although I don't know if it would "go" with anything other than dessert or on its own, it definitely has a place in my wine world!
MY GRADE: ++
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