Three Mills Botanical Wine

As an herbalist the Three Mills Botanicals wine with rose, strawberry, and elderflower caught my attention at Aldi. I love strawberries (my favorite fruit after cherries) and I was interested to see how the rose and elderflowers would come through. Rose can be a tricky ingredient in food and drink, you need to get the perfect amount; otherwise it can end up tasting like Aunt Vivian’s floral soap.

Another thing that drew me to Three Mills Botanicals wine was the gorgeous label and the $4.99 price. If you read my Corte Bella Rosso review you may remember what I had mentioned about labels with fun graphics, so I knew before drinking this wine that it probably would not be as complex as a wine with a more subdued label. But you really only know what you’re going to get by tasting the wine.

From the Label:

Crafted in our Norfolk Winery
5.5% ALC by Vol. Vegan

A blend of juicy strawberry and delicate elderflower flavors, with hints of rosewater, beautifully balanced for a medium dry refreshing Rosé. Serve chilled and enjoy shared with friends. Summer vibes year-round.

The label. (Click to enlarge.)

This is a gorgeous colored wine that reminds me of a sunset depending on the light that hits the bottle. The colors range from light pink to a light orange. Holding the glass up to my nose, I smelled strawberries, strawberries, and more strawberries. The longer I sniffed, I did start getting a bit of a deeper flavor, which could be due to the elderflowers, which can have a bitter taste the longer they steep.

Upon tasting there was a bit of a syrupy feel on my tongue, which is due to the high sugar content you find in a wine with 5.5% ALC by Volume. The taste was completely strawberry with the tiniest amount of fizz. But it’s between real strawberries at the height of their growing season just picked off the vine on a hot summer day to the sweet, artificial taste you find in some candies and other desserts. It lingers with no discernable finish. Even a few minutes later I could still taste the strawberries. I didn’t get any hints of elderflowers or rose in the sips I took.

The Verdict:

Even though this wine is not complex I would buy it again. First there’s the price and the gorgeous label, which made me think this is what the adults would drink at their child’s birthday party if the theme was Strawberry Shortcake. And for me this is a true porch pounder. Even the last two sentences on the label can be seen as referring to the wine that way.

Porch pounder wines are ones that you served chilled on a hot day, drinking it on your porch or in the backyard. It’s best when surrounded by friends, food, and a fire in the evening. With this wine you may drink the entire bottle by yourself because it goes down so easy.

I would rate this one an 82. It’s not complex, but it’s tasty and there’s a good chance it’ll put a smile on your face.