South Coast Winery Romanza

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Beautiful bottle, kitschy Italian name, lousy wine. TWC Rule # 6: The quality of the wine is quite often inversely proportional to the cool factor of the label.

Winery Notes:

Romanza is a red table wine that highlights the lighter aspects for red wine and without a doubt gives the drinker a sense of lively, exotic fruit and juicy, tantalizing finish. Can this be love in a bottle? It is certainly not the usual red table wine. Blended from Merlot, Cabernet, Zinfandel and a few Portuguese varieties, this wine has striking berry fruit characters and delicate coffee aromas that leap from the glass.

One of the heavyweights in wine blogging has a policy of never panning a wine. I see his point and if someone provides a sample for my review and I don't like it, I won't review it. But if I plunked down hard cash and end up pouring the wine down the sink, you, Gentle Reader, may hear about it. That is not rank hyperbole, we poured this love-in-a-bottle down the sink.

The Romanza is a $4.00 wine in a pretty package. It may be a half step up from Boone's Farm and nowhere near as good as Mateus Rose. Priced at $7.00 a glass in the winery restaurant and around $17.00 a bottle, it isn't a bargain wine, neither.

To be fair, the target market is those who don't care for red wine, and the wine may play well there. Certainly, there are many who prefer a sweet red wine, but they can do better for less money. To paraphrase Monty Python, this a wine for lying down and avoiding.

For the record, South Coast often puts out pretty good wine and the resort is lovely. TWC has enjoyed many leisurely afternoons on the veranda with friends, including the Kosmik Kid and an Ink Stained Scribe.

As Always,

TWC

Photos appear courtesy of South Coast Winery