The other day while I was meandering at Safeway, I came across this new product called First Blush. This is a line of teas and juices that are made from premium varietal wine grapes. (Think cabernet, merlot, syrah, and chardonnay.) The website touts that these juices and teas give you the same health benefits of wine (mostly from the antioxidants and resveratrol) but without the fermentation/alcohol. Being the wino that I am, I decided to give these a try. I chose the syrah juice, and the cabernet white tea. These were featured for $2.99 per 12 oz bottle.
I tried the syrah juice first. It was a deep purple, and looked like a fine glass of wine. While it was quite sweet, not more so than an ordinary 100% grape juice. I liked it, but could only handle about 4 oz. due to it being a bit sweet for my taste. I had a hard time pretending it was a glass of wine.
A few days later I tried the cabernet white tea pictured above. This is a blend of half cabernet juice and half white tea, and is billed as the antioxidant super tea! While it’s true that it probably is high in antioxidants, I was not a fan of this one. I just did not care for the blending flavor of grape juice and tea. I thought I would really like this since I love Arnold Palmers, the POM tea blends, etc. But, it was NOT for me. As you can see from the photo, this one is lighter in hue, from the dilution of the tea.
Would I buy these again? Probably not. Even though I enjoyed the 100% juice version, it is a bit pricey for grape juice. As a dietitian, I believe you can get the same health benefits whether it is from a glass of Welch’s Concord grape juice, or First Blush cabernet juice. The clever marketing drew me in as a wine lover, but even pouring into a fancy wine glass did not make me think I was drinking a glass of vino.
If you’ve tried it, let me know what you think.
Chase wanted to be pictured today, since this is called Paws and Pours!
(relaxing at the top of Camelback Mountain)
4 comments:
I haven't seen those...weird the cab and tea mix...was it bitter? Seems like it would be.
Someone at work mentioned those juices because we were doing some spec work for Welches at one point. I've been curious. Do they taste distinctive from other grape juices?
The pictures of Chase are also too cute, although I'm afraid of heights so I get a little antsy just looking at how high up those pictures look. :-) How old is chase?
Cathy-yes -the tea, juice mixture was a little bitter - but not in a good way.
Kelly, I didn't think these tasted that distinctive from regular grape juices. Certainly not enough to justify the cost.
Ok WHAT is the point of drinking wine that has no alcohol???
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