The Connoisseurs

2003 Werewolf Cabernet Sauvignon

I picked up this bottle of wine at my local wino mart completely as an impulse buy. It was $10 and right by the register, did I mention it was the day after Halloween? What’s a man to do? I had never seen or even heard of a wine from Romania, but that’s precisely what Werewolf is. It conjures up images of Slavic peasants drinking the harvest away in quiet seclusion hoping not to wake the Werewolf’s terrible and insatiable hunger. 2003 was a hard year; we lost so many good men to the wolf. I had to teach our youngest, Igor, to wield a pitchfork should the beast attack again, and he was only five. The frost hit early and hard, but not as ruthlessly as the demon-seed werewolf, a man by day and lupine slaughterer by the full moon’s light… so many we lost that winter…

Oh, I’m sorry, I seem to have gotten carried away… onto the wine.

After popping the bright red synthetic cork and pouring a glass, I was greeted by the smell of bing cherries, slightly masked by the stringent scent of alcohol. This wine is 13.5% abv and the flavor is marred by the unflinching taste of alcohol as well. Other flavors are present; a very slight raspberry hint and a juicy, sour cherry flavor each throw their hats into the ring. This wine is juicy and alcoholic on the attack, but the juiciness doesn’t stick around long, leaving the drinker with a dry mouthfeel that persists until you take another drink. Werewolf is a very light-bodied wine, nothing like I was expecting. I was hoping for a rich, dark, bloody red that would pair with a hunk of rare beef, what I got was a stringent, light, fruity red that would be more aptly named Mr. Dainty Fruity Picnic Teacup-Pants.

In my research I have found that Werewolf has also produced a Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, and Merlot. I will actively seek them out until I can find one deserving of the terrifying name of Werewolf.