SuppliedWine: Gazela Sparkling
Found at: Liquors on Jasper (9537 Jasper Avenue)
Price: $13.99
On the shelf, Gazela looks like it embodies summer. The bottle and wine are clear, sort of like the refreshing waters of the coast, and the label features exotic flowers and a hummingbird. In a way, it’s the ideal choice for a wine aesthetic to prove to the weather gods that winter is over and that freak snow storms aren’t acceptable anymore.
As a sparkling wine, the bottle comes with a wire cage and a cork that needs to be wiggled until it inevitably shoots out from the force of the carbonation (or something like that, I’m not a physicist). This is fine unless you have an irrational fear of popping sounds, and it took me fifteen minutes to gather the courage to finally open the bottle.
Gazela smells light, slightly sour, and is reminiscent of my aunt’s breath. It’s a dry wine, so the initial overwhelming tartness goes away almost instantly after swallowing. Additionally, it’s got loads of bubbles, so it’s best to refrain from chugging. Instead, it’s ideal for drinking out on a finely-trimmed lawn while you risk skin cancer in order to look good by society’s standards.
In fact, Gazela tastes sort of like a suburban stay-at-home parent’s life. The sour flavour could easily be concocted at home with vodka, cheap chardonnay, and Perrier water. At 11 per cent alcohol, it’s strong enough to forget whatever annoyances you face day-to-day.
Whether you’re trying to drink to forget the last icy blasts of winter, or if you’re testing the waters to see if being a trophy wife or husband is the life for you, Gazela is there for you. The playful wine whose label uses too many adjectives is relatively agreeable with the stomach and is handsomely strong enough to be worth the price it’s selling for.
