Christmas Traditions Merlot

I never knew that Christmas wine existed, but I noticed in The Fresh Market flyer I got in the mail that they were advertising their line of Christmas wines. (I think it just means that these wines are only released during the holidays.) This holiday line of wines includes a Merlot, Chardonnay and Muscato. I happened to be open to trying a red wine so I went for the Merlot. The bottle had a festive label with a wonderful winter scene, getting you in the holiday mood before you opened the bottle. The wine had a wonderful red fruit aroma and was less tannic than some other Merlots I have tried. It would go wonderfully with a pot roast or steak and potatoes. If you are new to the red wine world, this would be a great wine as there are a lot of fruit notes in the wine. This has a much smoother mouthfeel and is less dry than other red wines. Ringing in at about $8, there's no reason not to try this wine so stop by The Fresh Market today and pick up a bottle.

Ice Cream Cellars

Wines these days are becoming more unique with more flavored wines than every before. I always try to browse the wine section to stay abreast of what's new since I feel like I am always out of the loop. I was flipping through The Fresh Market flyer and was stopped when I saw a picture of what I thought was an ice cream cone...turns out it was actually a wine bottle! This was a French Vanilla wine from Ice Cream Cellars. After reading this, I figured that it could either be pretty good or really terrible but it was definitely something I needed to try. Who doesn't want to say that they have had ice cream wine?! This wines comes it at $12 so it's definitely worth a try. So what does ice cream wine taste like....like a cup of melted ice cream. It's comparable to the cake or whipped cream flavored vodkas. I was surprised by the fact that it was sweet, but not grotesquely sweet. Clearly this is a dessert wine, but it's not overwhelming. They also have a raspberry ripple flavor that I will be trying out as well. This is a fun wine that would make a unique addition to a gift basket or a new hostess present. The holidays are here so you always need to have a bottle of wine on hand to serve or give away and this is a great one to have.