Sandbanks Love, Cassis Apertivo, 2012

One of A's favourite people had a baby the other day. And babies are worthy of celebrating with wine. A was going to go for a theme, but the only wine with "Baby" in the name is Baby Duck, and you'd have to pay her to drink that (or buy the bottle at least!). So, since the baby is a girl, A went for pink because girls have been associated with pink for the last century. She even drank it from a pink glass! Sandbank's Wineries Love Apertivo seemed perfect for two reasons. 1) It is pink and has a suitable name and 2) it is a half-bottle, which she appreciates as a live alone wine drinker. Half-bottles mean you don't have to drink 6 glasses of wine yourself! This wine is actually a blend of white wine with Canadian Cassis syrup and is technically an apertif, not a wine. It claims to be best drank cold and on its own, so on the instructions of the bottle, A will "embrace the moment!"

A - This wine is a little bit thicker than I normally drink and is quite a lot sweeter. It is a bit syrupy and it really tastes pink, by which I mean sweet, fruity, light, and pleasant. At a 2 on the sugar scale, this wine is a nice compromise between ice wine and normal wine. If you don't like ice wine, this would be a nice dessert sipping wine for you because it is a bit more tart, like cranberries or currants, but still has a nice sweetness. Unlike most ice wines, I probably would buy this wine again. It is more like a thick rose. At $14.95 at the LCBO, it is a wine fit for a dear friend's first baby, and not an everyday drink (luckily, and this friend will appreciate this, I got it on sale from my local store for $10.95, which made it even sweeter!).