Pasek Cellars Cranberry Wine

Much to celebrate tonight over a glass of wine. First and foremost, last week I found a lump in my breast and today after spending all day at three different doctors, there is no sign of a tumor! Hopefully that isn't TMI however I think it is important for all women to do monthly breast exams to ensure their breast health. It's terrifying to find a lump but it is even more terrifying to think you have one and you wouldn't know about it until irreversible damage has been done.

Secondly, Brad and I are looking at buying a house- woo hoo! I am of the firm opinion that a real house has hardwood floors, plaster walls, and a fireplace. Thankfully there is a very quaint little town called Cashmere that is absolutely overflowing with craftsman bungalows and there is one on the market in our price range that we are going to look at. Hell yes.

So what better way to celebrate than combining some of my favorite things? Pork, Cranberries, a new episode of House, and WINE!

Tonight I sampled Pasek Cellars Cranberry Wine (http://www.pasekcellars.com/). I got this at the grocery store for $10, its 11% alcohol by volume, and it didn't have a year on it so I am going to assume 07 or 08. Here is my token picture:

Guess who was too lazy to get out the real camera? Cell phone to the rescue!

Onward and upward friends! So, the back of the bottle says 100% cranberries and boy howdy they weren't lying! Opening the bottle I noticed that the cork was completely cork colored. Maybe I should stop taking pictures of the cork... anyway. Most of the time the corks are bloated at the top and narrow on the bottom, and the bottom is dyed purple or red. This cork was just a cork. I don't really think that means much besides the fact that this is most likely a young wine, so I would now lean to an 08 bottle. That doesn't leave a lot of time to get 11% alcohol though, I will need to research this a bit more.

The nose is so incredibly tight I could be smelling water. I actually have some cranberry juice in the fridge and it has the same nose. I don't even smell any alcohol. This is a plus and a minus. I hate tasting the alcohol in wine because it is so overpowering but wine is alcohol.

The color is also incredibly pale, almost like a blush or rose. It is incredibly clear though, I can easily read newsprint through a full glass:

Glad I swept the floor last night...

Again I don't think that clarity is a bad thing at all. This isn't a grape wine it is a cranberry wine, and grape juice is way darker and less translucent than cranberry juice so since wine is just fermented juice, this works.

The flavor was cranberry juice. Just cranberries. I love cranberries. But I didn't spend $10 for 750mL of cranberry juice. I paid that much for wine. There is no other flavor at all, maybe some cherry or strawberry if I use my imagination and look for it.

As an adult beverage, I would score this 5 stars because it will get you there in a jiffy without the taste of alcohol. As a wine, I would score it very low... like 1 star for wine and 2 stars because I like cranberries. If I didn't like cranberries it would be .5 stars but if I didn't like cranberries I sure as hell wouldn't have bought this in the first place.