Wine made by AMAZON: Good or Bad?!

Amazon.com, one of the biggest retailers in the world and the shop where every one of you has bought something you'll regret from this battery powered Justin Bieber singing toothbrush to this popular squirrel finger puppet set. The company started as an online bookstore almost exactly 30 years ago and it quickly developed into the everything store it is today and they are also selling wine. I don't really buy wine on Amazon as their selection is pretty bad but one of their product lines has piqued my interest. Did you know that Amazon is making its own wine? Yes, our prayers have been answered. Just like many big food retailers, Amazon decided to launch a line of private label wines. Private labels are a great way for the retailer to increase margins in a competitive environment as they are cutting out some of the value chain and go straight to the source. In this case, I'm guessing that it wasn't Jeff Bezos making the wine himself with his muscular hands but instead someone at Amazon purchased some wine in bulk and got a contract bottler to fill it into bottles and then they slapped their own label on the bottle. So the end result is here in one of those classic Amazon boxes. So let's find out whether this is actually the future of wine, the biggest wine brand in the making or just a river filled with pluck. So this is the lineup. I ordered most of the wines that Amazon has on offer. They are labeled by Amazon and it says somewhere on the label for every one of those wine that they are made by Amazon or that they are exclusively for our selection by Amazon. So all of these wines are only available through Amazon in Germany and they are pretty cheap. So most of those wines are actually retailing for three euros, which is very cheap even for German standards. And two, the last two are actually retailing above five euros. They're between five and six euros retail. So this tasting wasn't expensive to put together and it was pretty easy to put together. I mean, let's face it, no one makes it easier to shop than Amazon. The labels aren't very well designed. I mean, they look really cheap, but let's face it, the wine is cheap. So they are probably giving you an accurate depiction of what's inside. The labels, they're like little bubbles under the labels and all this kind of stuff. So yeah, this all in all looks, yeah, not very tempting. On most of those wines, they are putting some adjectives on the label that are probably supposed to give the buyer an impression of what the wines are like. This one says lively, fruity and harmonious. Yeah, I mean, you could put that on most wines really and it would be accurate, but it doesn't really help you all that much. On this one, it says fruity, round and harmonious and it's a Cuvée Vin de France dry. So the first three, two whites, one red are from Germany. The next three are from France. And the last one is the super premium wine from Argentina. It even says Mendoza on here. So let's dive into them one by one. And I gotta admit, I'm not that excited to taste them, but let's give them a chance, shall we? I didn't mention that before, but all of those wines are bottled under a screw top, which is a good idea, I think. I don't think that those wines are meant to be aged. So putting them on a screw cap is a pretty good idea as this will conserve the wine and it will make sure that the wine doesn't get caught in. So yeah, that's a plus. So the first wine is a Riesling from Rheinhessen, which is Germany's biggest wine growing region, which can produce amazing wines, but also has the reputation for making a lot of entry-level wine. It is halbtrocken, which is off dry, so there will be some sugar in here. And Amazon says it's fresh, elegant, and fruity. 11% alcohol is actually nice, I think. In summer, I really enjoy drinking light wines that have lower amounts of alcohol, just because you can drink more of it without getting drunk. And yeah, so that's another plus for this wine. And on top of this, this is actually a liter bottle. So less than three euros for one liter of wine. All right, good flavors. I mean, this is fruit-driven. It says it's fruity, and it is fruity. I wouldn't say it's elegant. It's more obvious, it's quite direct, but it smells of apricots, a little bit peachy, a little bit of apple, but pretty clean. I think for a wine to be described as elegant, it needs to have more layers, it needs to be a little bit more complex than this, but this is fruity and quite nice. Yeah, on the palate, it's just not quite as nice. There's sugar there, but it's not really sweet. Interestingly, they also list the calories of this wine. So this has 71 kilocalories per 100 milliliters. Yeah, is that a lot? Is that not a lot? I have no idea, but yeah, they put it on there. I mean, the sweetness is certainly there, but it's not pronounced at all. The acidity is a little bit harsh, and this all feels quite diluted on the palate. Riesling is one of those grape varieties that are able to produce very high quality at low yields, but can also produce palatable, decent wine at really high yields, and this feels like a very high yield production. I mean, at that price point, what would you expect? There's no money there that can be invested into reducing yields or being very careful in the vineyard or really taking care of the fermentation and making sure that the wine produces the best it can. Instead, I think the general concept here is get the wine into bottle and onto the shelves as quickly as possible, because yeah, I mean, at this price point, what do you expect? On the back label, it suggests that this is a great wine with pasta in spicy tomato sauce, which is completely ridiculous. I don't think that would work at all here, but yeah, not a bad start. So I'm going to rate this 73 points. I think it is adequate. It's not a great wine at all. It's not even a good wine, but there are definitely worse wines than this, and at that price point, yeah, why not? So let's move on to wine number two, a Chardonnay from Rheinhessen, again from Germany, and this, like the previous wine, also doesn't have a vintage on it. I mean, you can produce high-end wines that are blends of different vintages. Champagne is probably the most obvious example, but generally, this kind of indicates that there's quite a lot of blending going on in order to put this wine together, and that isn't necessarily an indication of super high quality. So this one is lively, fruity, and harmonious, and it goes well with feta salad. Okay, another screw top. Chardonnay is becoming more and more popular in Germany, which totally makes sense. I mean, we are pretty close to Burgundy and the climatic conditions in many wine-growing areas in Germany are fairly similar, so it works. It should work, but yeah, let's see whether it works here. Yeah, I mean, this is also clean. It's not, there's no huge issue here, but flavor-wise, this is just not very good. The smells of bruised apple and green peas, not a great combo. On the palate, it's actually quite juicy. It feels like there's also some sugar here. It doesn't feel completely dry. In order to round it out and make it a little bit more fleshy, they might have left some sugar in here. And yeah, the length is not great. I mean, yeah, this is just, I think this is a question of preference. I think quality-wise, this is similar, but I would much rather drink the Riesling that I had previously than this kind of weird Chardonnay style. So I'm going to rate this 71 points. But again, at this price point, what would you expect? I'm just hoping that all of those good Amazon customers who've bought this wine don't think this is a fair representation of German Chardonnay. There are much better ones than this one. So seek out some other, maybe more interesting Chardonnays before making up your mind. So next up, a wine that I've been dreading to taste. This is a Dornfeller, which is a grape variety that is fairly popular in Germany. Again, from Rheinhessen. And this is Lieblich. So it's a buff off-dry. So a red wine from a grape variety that doesn't always produce great wines, made with quite a lot of residual sugar. So that's the style. Yeah, I really don't want to taste this. But Amazon says it's soft, fruity, and rich. So who am I to doubt them? Can I do this? Yes, I can. I mean, I'm not big on judging a wine by its color, but this just brings up bad memories from back in the day. In Germany, Dornfeller Lieblich is one of those wine styles that people first consume when they're getting into red wine. Dry red wine can be a little bit harsh, a little bit weird, astringent, to people who haven't tasted many wines before. And this kind of style is just round, rich, and sweet. It doesn't grip your tongue. It doesn't bite your gums. Instead, it's just juicy. And this smells cooked, like boiled fruit, boiled berries, boiled cherries. A little bit dusty as well, slightly funky. But yeah, I mean, again, it's fairly clean. I mean, this is not a natural wine or anything like that. It's a pretty, pretty standard Dornfeller Lieblich. This definitely lacks intensity and concentration. It doesn't really give me much. It's just kind of really flat and flabby. On the palate, it's juicy, round. There's basically no tannins. The acidity is present. It's a bit harsh. I mean, this might sound nicer than it is. I just find this very, very boring. It's just, yeah, like tasting homemade grape juice maybe. Not a bad thing, but certainly isn't what you'd expect if you want a nice glass of red. Yeah, no. They recommend this with smoked cheese or roasted duck breast which is oddly specific. I'd recommend not drinking it. So I'm rating this 68 points. I think it's just bland. There's nothing badly wrong here, but it just isn't fun. So I'd recommend not drinking anything rather than drinking this. All right, let's move into France and away from Germany. I mean, if German wine tastes like this, I don't want to live here anymore. And let's get into the red wine cuvee vin de front. So Amazon says that this wine is fruity, round and harmonious and they recommend drinking this with hearty dishes. On the one end of the spectrum, they are super precise, recommending drinking it with smoked cheese. And then on the other end, they are basically saying drink this with food. Anyways, this again is a liter. So you get a lot of volume for your buck. Again, extremely light in color. I mean, this is like, you can definitely see your fingers through it. You can see the hair growing on my fingers through the wine. I'm guessing this is not Pinot Noir or a grape variety like that because that would probably be too expensive to buy. Like Pinot Noir is difficult to farm so it tends to be fairly expensive when you buy it even at the entry level. What could this be? I'm guessing that it's from the South of France. So it might be from the Vin de Pays Dock, for example, even though they don't state an origin here. So it could be from pretty much anywhere. This is just, yeah, fruity entry level red. But it's quite a bit better than the previous wine. I mean, there is some strawberry character coming through, some blackberry fruit. So this is really fruit driven, really easy going. There's even a little bit of spice, a little bit of licorice there. So, I mean, it's definitely not a very interesting wine but it is more interesting than the Dornfelder. You know what? I would drink this. Like if I was in a small restaurant somewhere in France and they would serve this as their house red, I'd drink a glass. I'd not be super happy about it, but I think it's okay. It's one of those honest, easy going wines that don't make you think, but yeah, I mean, enjoyable. I'm going to rate this 78 points. I think it's not quite good, but it can be good in the right situation. So next up, we have the Merlot Vin de France Dry, which is fruity, ripe, and expressive. And it also doesn't have a vintage. They don't actually say what to serve this with, but they are saying that it smells of elderberries and violets. Let's find out. I mean, Merlot has kind of a bad rep nowadays, but it can produce some really extraordinary wines, but it can also produce really cheap bulk wine. They are those both sides of the spectrum. I'm guessing this is more on the bulk side of the spectrum. Again, really light in color, not a lot of concentration there. To me, it smells like blueberries and cherries, but it's quite well made. So there's not a lot of complexity there. Like every time I stick my nose into the glass, it smells exactly the same. It doesn't develop over time, but there's no flaws there. It's actually solid. On the palate, it has a little bit more oomph, so there's more concentration there. Some tannic grip. Who would have thought that wines in this segment actually have tannins? I think most people don't necessarily like tannins, and that's why commercial wine often doesn't have that astringent feeling. But, well, wine nerds are really much into structure and want some tannins. So this actually gives me a little bit more to chew on. Yeah, it's, again, a step up, I think, in quality. I'd rate this 79 points. I think it's solid. I mean, it's a juicy red wine with some structure. It's well made. There are no flaws there. It's kind of average, but yeah, I can see how some people would enjoy this. I mean, it's certainly better than all of the other wines so far. All right, we're stepping up in quality, at least in terms of price, and this is actually a Cote d'Uron Village. So it's not just a vin de France, a generic wine from somewhere in France. Instead, it's from the Cote d'Uron Village Appellation, so a much smaller area, suggesting that the quality might be even higher. The label for this wine is in English, and they're putting the UK Chief Medical Officer's recommendation on the back label, so I'm guessing this is made for the UK market. It's 14% alcohol, and they are saying that it's lovely with barbecues, grilled meats, halloumi, and vegetables, herby sausages, pasta with Mediterranean vegetables. That's quite a list. On top of that, it's also vegan, and let's dive in. So this is quite a bit darker in color than the previous wines. Cote d'Urons don't tend to be super concentrated, so this is also not extremely dark, but at least a little darker than some of the previous ones. It smells of cherries, a little bit oxidative, so it doesn't appear to be super fresh. There's a little bit of spice as well. There's some licorice there, some peppery notes, but yeah, I don't know whether it's just this bottle, but this wine actually feels old. On the palate, it has good structure, good tannic bite. It definitely has more intensity than all of the previous reds combined, and decent length as well. So I actually think this was a pretty good wine, but it feels like it's on the decline. Based on this bottle, I wouldn't recommend buying this wine, even though the price is pretty good and the quality, I think, was there once, but it feels like it's just, yeah, not going to last for much longer. Oxidative notes in the beginning smell like stewed fruit, like fruit that was cut and just left outside for too long. Just turns slightly weird and funky, a little bit of vinegary. The fruit flavor isn't precise anymore, and this is what this feels like. It's a bit of a shame because Cote d'Uron, in my opinion, is still one of the greatest value wines in the world. There are some extraordinary wines coming out of the Cote d'Uron AOC, which are just delicious, and well, this just isn't that. So I'm going to rate this 76 points. It's a bit tricky because it feels flawed, but only slightly. It feels like it was pretty good, but yeah, just because of the oxidativeness, I have to mark it down. Last but not least, we have the Argentinian Malbec from Mendoza, a region in Argentina, and this apparently also was bottled for the UK market. It says, a really pure expression of Malbec, deep red, almost purple in color, and wonderfully aromatic with lifted violet, red currant, and cassis notes. Great with a juicy steak, churrasco de chorizo. I don't know what that is, but it sounds delicious. Argentinian Malbec is a great success story. It's kind of crazy that this only started at the end of the 20th century, really, for this grape variety from Argentina, but nowadays the wines are everywhere, and they can be delicious at fairly low price points. So even though this is the most expensive wine in the tasting, it's still fairly cheap. So let's see whether it's good. Malbec is a grape variety that produces really dark colored wines, and this can sometimes help you in a blind tasting. I mean, Malbec often has this super dark core, and at the rim, it is a little bit violet, kind of purple, and this can be an indication for Malbec in your glass. They even say that on the label, almost purple in color. Mm, this is actually, this smells really nice. I mean, it smells of ripe blackberries, cherries. There's a little bit of cassis as well, black currants. There's also a little bit of spice there, a little bit of pepperiness. On the palate, this is juicy and rich. There's some tannins there, but there's good balance here. I think this is actually fairly harmonious. It's not a great wine, but it's a good wine. Just about. So I'm going to rate this 80 points. I think this is the best wine in the tasting. Pretty concentrated, complex red. I think most people would enjoy this, even though this will get boring pretty quickly, but it's well-made. All right, Amazon, you haven't lost me as a customer, but I don't think I'm going to buy more wine from you. I think the quality is adequate. I mean, at this price point, you can't expect much more. The wines were all well-made, technically well-made, but I just think at this price point, you're better off not drinking wine, really. I mean, just save the money or put all of the money together that you would have spent on those seven bottles and buy two bottles instead and savor them, enjoy them a little bit more. There are certainly better wine out there. But that said, this is an okay start. I think they are on a similar level to what most of the discounters are selling. The wines are okay. I actually thought the two wines in the big bottles were the best, plus this one from Argentina. The other ones, I wouldn't want to drink, really. And I mean, those I also, well, would just have a glass of if I'm invited and there's nothing else to drink. All right, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, then please like it down here, subscribe to my channel if you haven't done so already. My question of the day is, have you ever purchased wine from Amazon? Let me know down below. And I hope I see you guys again very soon. Until then, stay thirsty. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪