My First Wine Review

I don't usually do wine reviews, well, I've never done a wine review. Mostly because I don't like to think of myself as a lush, which if you drink enough wine to have an opinion about it, you are a lush, in my opinion.

So lush or not, I do like it, and usually gravitate to $9.00 and under bottles. Yes, you can get palatable stuff for that price. I have been drinking Menage a Trois lately (bought at Sam's Club for $8 something) and it's very tasty. But I was out and so was Whole Foods, who doesn't sell it for anywhere near 8, but I'll buy it there if I'm really craving it. Looking for an alternate I saw a fetching label and a stellar rating attached to a red. The price was more than I wanted to spend, but since I wanted a red and I loved the label I got it.

The wine Red Truck, and I have to be honest here, is horrible. It's bouquet is a fruity turpentine, with lingering notes of pond scum and dirt. I'm not even going to save it until it turns into vinegar, down the drain this baby goes.

The moral of this story is don't be swayed by graphics, or even words for that matter. How many times have we fallen for a pitch we know in our soul is BS? Think cosmetic industry here. Have you ever picked up a bottle of dish soap or something squishy, held it in your hand and didn't like the heft of it so chose another brand or size?

30 years ago I knew someone who majored in packaging at college. I had never heard of such a thing, and couldn't conceive how he could study boxes and bottles for four years without going nuts. Now, packaging has become an expensive art form with all sorts of subliminal and psychological manipulations that we consumers can't even imagine. And, sucker that I am I fell for the touchy feely, return to the old ways, look of the raggedy red truck. Probably at the winery the only old red truck they have is the one on the sign inviting you to visit the winery.

Bottom line, if you want a good red wine, try Menage a Trois.