Ucky Ducky
This entry will be brief and painful. I stumbled onto my first really, really, REALLY bad wine experience. I think I might have been as disappointed as I was because the bottle was unique. It was the third bottle I purchased the first night of this wine journey, and I had been saving it for a special occasion.
That special occasion ended up being a crappy Tuesday night full of rain and residual stress from the work day. What better pick me up than an entire bottle of wine? That's common sense, in my opinion.
The culprit was a bottle of Lucky Duck Shiraz wine from Walmart. 
Seems innocent enough, right? I liked that the duck was upside down on the bottle, that the price was great, and it was from Australia which I thought was unique. It was also a Shiraz, which is the most heavily produced type of wine in Australia. I figured it would be a win, just like the Beringer from a few weeks past.
Boy, oh boy, was I wrong.
Shiraz is another name for the Syrrah grape, which is a red grape that's deeply impacted by the climate in which it is grown. That means that you can drink 10 different Shiraz wines and experience 10 different flavors. They are typically spicy, with a rich plum or blackberry flavor, but sometimes you get a hint of coffee or licorice...I actually had one from the World Market that tasted a bit like chocolate. They can be very dry or smooth, and are always exotic. Australian Shiraz wines tend to be fruitier, pairing well with a red meat.
Let me tell you what they don't pair well with. Heidi on her red couch.
It tasted like rancid cranberry juice. My mouth puckered, and I could not get the taste out of the roof of my mouth. Determined, I took just a sip, then a gulp - hoping that different amounts of wine in my mouth would change up which taste buds were being hit and make the flavor a little more agreeable. Survey says: Nope.
I tried it cold. I tried it at room temperature. I tried it with a mouthful of strawberry-flavored marshmallows. You cannot make this wine taste good. Do not. PLEASE do not drink this wine.
One notable feature about this wine is that it haunts you. Some might call this a good thing, but it seriously bothered me. I sneezed the next day and tasted it. 
And only one cup (if that) later, and I was so drunk I slept like a spasm-gripped epileptic. This was my bed the next day.
I truly think the people of Australia are laughing at us. The label exclaimed: Lucky You!
Yeah. Lucky me. This luck isn't going to be a lady if she ever meets an Australian wine maker. Or a duck with an australian accent. Or a man holding a wine glass who says the words "down" or "under". I'll find a way to get them, one day soon.
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