Wine #1: Five Rivers Merlot, 2011 Monterrey

First of all, the Vintage Cellar is gold. Beer/wine from across the world all conveniently located next to the ABC store on North Main. They do wine tastings every Thursday and Saturday, with beer tasting every Friday. Check em out!

Balling on the average college kid's budget, most of the wines there were out of my league. But Vintage Cellar knows this, and puts their clearance rack front and center.

Which is where I found Wine #1:

Banana for scale.

I don't recommend using pint glasses for this; the whole sniff and swirl thing didn't work as well as it would in a proper wine glass.

In a few whiffs, it smells like blueberry and blackberry, and hides behind the alcohol a bit, so it does take a few smells.

After looking like an idiot trying to taste it the "right" way, all I took away was that it was very sweet and fruity. Once I get the whole aspiration thing down it could be better.

Overall, it smells better than it tastes. Something spicy/cooked would pair well, and for $8.95, not bad. But I know I can do better.

VERDICT:    2/5