United States of Wine

San Sebastian Winery — Vintner’s Red — St. Augustine, FL – N/V

Price: $12.99; https://store.sansebastianwinery.com/index.php/vintners-red.html

Flying into Florida for a single night left me the ability to taste a single wine from the Sunshine State, so I chose a bottle from one of the oldest wineries in the state: San Sebastian Winery, which claims to have been making American wine since 1562.

While they do have any different wines in their selection, I tried the Vintner’s Red, made from the Noble variety of the American native Muscadine grape. I have tried a muscadine-made wine before, which I decidedly threw out half the bottle due to the extreme level of sweetness. But I continue to hold out hope that there is a winery who can do right by our native grape.

Enter this dark cherry red wine from San Sebastian Winery. Drinking it out of a regrettable hotel room glass, I was able to get the scent of hard strawberry candy mixed with cotton candy. Alright, this wine will also be sweet.

The Vintner’s Red had a flavor that reminded me of grape-flavored Kool-aid, sweet but not so much that it’s disgustingly sweet. Perhaps I didn’t mind the level of sweetness because I loved grape Kool-aid as a child (and probably as an adult if I drank it again). It was an easy level of sweetness that was enjoyable, where you could just sit back and sip this wine without issue.

Would I recommend this wine to a more elite wine drinker? Absolutely not. But if you’re looking for a sweet wine that doesn’t taste like you’re going to get diabetes from it, I’d give this Vintner’s Red as a recommendation.

I also think it would go well served with a spicy pasta dish, something with a Diavolo or Arrabbiata sauce.

Score: 7.2/10