Hardy's 'Stamp of Australia' Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon

So I go into the store to select a wine to pre-drink with, pick one up that's advertised as being £5.29, get it scanned by the cashier and it's £8.67. Awkward, right? Anyway, I get it for £5.29 in the end.

Sweet deal? No, it's a Hardy's 2010 Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon.  I always thought Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon were mutually exclusive, guess not. But I can't take advice from a wine advertised on early evening television. Also, it's Australian. Awesome.

So we've got a classic screw top, "rich mulberry/cherry fruit, integrated vanillin oak and a soft finish."  Seriously, cherries? What is up with this. Cherries must just mean wine. Don't know what's up with the vanillin oak. I thought vanillin was like a chemical compound or something and oak's a tree. Weirdos.

So pouring this mystery into yesterday's wineglass we've got a nicer color, more purple, and it totally smells softer.  Doesn't have that gross bite like you're smelling salts or something.

No vanillin, oak, cherries or mulberry. Tastes like the bottom of a trash can. Like the remains of so many leftovers and vegetable peels just beginning to turn.  Doesn't even really taste of wine. This is gross. I should have picked up on the ambiguity of them not even knowing if it's supposed to be mulberries or cherries.

2010, 13.5%

Tesco Finest 'Nero D'Avola' Sicilia

Tesco Finest "Nero D'Avola" Sicilia. £4.99 from Tesco Express.  The second cheapest available in what's pretty much just a garage convenience store without getting involved in Blossom Hill.

It says it's got "Bright aromas of blackcurrant and cherry. Flavours of black cherry with a rich full-bodied finish." Cherries.

I don't know what kind of wine it actually is, like chardonnay or whatever.  Maybe that's the Sicilia. It's got a screw cap too, for losers or lonely people to save some for another day.  Seriously, nothing sadder than an unfinished bottle of wine.

It totally doesn't smell of cherries, blackcurrants at a push but with heady overtones of ethanol.  Pretty much like any wine.  Burns the back of my throat in a pretty unpleasant sour way and makes my wisdom teeth feel like they're retreating further into my jaw.

Going to crack on with this bitch and read some 60s racism.

And right, this is a 13.5% 2010 vintage.