Rich Royal Review

I was standing at the LCBO cash register waiting my turn to pay for my purchases when I saw these little, golden cans neatly lined up on the top shelf. Rich Royal wine containing cocktail. Wine containing? Really? Why not wine cocktail or wine cooler? They cost $2.35 CAD per 200 mL can and came in two kinds. I don't remember what the other one was, but I remember it having a pink pull tab. I checked out the LCBO website as soon as I got home, but the only result I got was Rich Royal Prosecco, a wine cooler that has been discontinued. It had the same price and the same alcohol content - 6.5%, but it was made in Italy, not Germany? Are these the replacements? Have they not been even entered on the website? Perhaps, perhaps. Give it some time I say.

Now what does a wine containing cocktail consist of? The ingredients list states that it contains wine, water, strawberry juice from concentrate, blackcurrant juice, sugar, carbon dioxide, carrot juice from concentrate and flavor. Carrot juice? In a wine cooler? Well isn't that exotic? And what is that mystical flavor? What about that wine? It would have been wise to let the customer know what wine has been used. Now the taste. It tastes like any other fruit wine beverage, but not as heavy on the zinfandel taste. The fruits can be noticed better in the aftertaste than when drinking. Rest for a minute and the berry taste will come. It is only 6.5% alcohol by volume, but the alcohol taste is very strong. I think it could have been better balanced. But hey, you get what you paid for. I would rather spend my $2.35 on a can of beer, or perhaps the other Rich Royal flavour, but not this again. If you want a wine cooler/beverage, get a bottle of something else. You can find some decent fruit flavoured wines, wine coolers or wine beverages for less than $10 for a bottle.

Scores:
Cost - $2.35 CAD per 200 mL can
Taste - 5.8/10

Overall - 5.9/10...I would give it an extra 0.1 for the cool container. I just love small cans