Chaucer's Mead

I have had mead before, but I wouldn't call myself an aficionado. Mead is just the wine that made out of honey instead of grapes, and I know very little about regular wine made from grapes. I'm more of a beer guy. Nevertheless, I like to try new things, and I have had some success with meads in the past. Whenever I saw this on the shelf, I figured I would give it a shot. They say some of the best wine in the world is made in California, and that's where this mead comes from. Do they have particularly good bees there? 

When my spouse saw this, she commented that it was very much like a White Zinfandel in its presentation. I'm sure the bottle helps to reinforce that, as this just looks like any other kind of wine. The aroma smells more like apple juice or maybe a hard apple cider, as I can smell alcohol coming through. It's strange that these things don't smell a whole lot like honey. Well, regardless of how it smells, it looks pretty much exactly what you would expect a wine like this to look.

First sip is mediocre at best. It's kind of sweet, but it has a a weird kind of cardboard flavor that has been added to sweet apple juice that has been cut with some honey. Like I said before, I'm not really a wine person, and this strikes me as a version of wine that is a little more affable. I wouldn't say that it's particularly good, but I don't think that wine is particularly good in the first place. This is probably better than some wine that I have tried before, but it has been sometime since I tried to enjoy a glass of wine. If there is beer available, I normally go for it. There is beer available right now, and I'm probably going to switch.

Bottom Line: Not terrible, but I don't see the draw.

2.25/5