3 wines for $12

Well, for the past few months I have been eying a Chilean wine at Meijers Superstore called Gato Negro - imported by San Pedro. If you have not heard of this brand before I believe they are trying to market themselves as the Chilean version of Yellow Tail. And retailing for 4 dollars a bottle the question is, "Can you buy a decent wine for such a cheap price?" The answer according to our tasters is No.

We started off with the Sauvignon Blanc. The bottle claimed the this wine had a pale straw color, with a nose smelling of tropical fruit. What they forgot to mention though, was the relentless onslaught of acid that accompanied. This wine had so much acid that it almost tasted salty. Most of the tasters could not get over this acidic assault on their pallets, with one person commenting that it tasted like spoiled fruit. Not a good quality in wine. Saved yourself the trouble and do not purchase the Sauvignon Blanc!

Next, we tried the Chardonnay. The color was a tinted clear color, much lighter in appearance than most Chardonnays. Sarah commented that it looked like white grape juice. The aroma was somewhat interesting with banana, pineapple and some hints in of apple. Taste wise the Chardonnay took a turn for the worst. Although it did have a good mouth feel and a hit of pear, which was interesting, only 2 drinkers thought it was O.K., while most felt that it tasted sour with some very unappealing acidity like the Sauvignon Blanc.

Finally, we finished with the Cabernet. On the nose the tasters said they got some caramel, black fruit, and plum notes. The taste did not do the aroma any justice however. Nathan said it down-right sucked, while Evan said the wine was too one dimensional. Sarah was a little nicer saying that she tasted some spicy berry components. Cassie wondered if the makers were purposely going for a sulphur/mildew taste.

Overall, the group consensus would have been that we would have been much better off buying one wine for 12 dollars than 3 poor ones.
If, after read this you would still like to try this wine it can be found at any Meijers, usually on the bottom shelf of the import section.