A Ferrari That Ruined My Birthday - Was It a Counterfeit or Just Not Worth the Money?

Hello everyone who's stopped by!

Last summer I spotted a sparkling wine Ferrari at the Pyaterrka store. The price of 2099 rubles per bottle is pretty steep, so I decided to wait for a special occasion. That special occasion happened in February - my birthday, and I splurged and bought this Ferrari.

I didn't see this wine in other stores like Magnet, Lenta, or Ashan, maybe I just didn't look closely enough.

Description:

The wine is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, hand-picked in the Val d’Adige, Val di Cembra, and Valle dei Laghi communes, aged for at least 24 months. The vineyards are located at an altitude of 300-500 meters above sea level.

Name: Ferrari Brut

Volume: 750 ml

Strength: 12.5%

Color: White

Sugar: Brut

Brand: Ferrari

Country: Italy

Serving temperature: 8-10 °C

This wine is available for sale in many stores, but I don't have any in my small town. I also bought a standard bottle without any extra packaging in Pyaterrka, while other stores have a cardboard box with the sale information. I'm curious, what determines the presence of a cardboard box?

As I mentioned, the wine comes in a standard bottle for this type of drink. There's no fancy or interesting design. The dark glass is quite opaque, which is a plus for the manufacturer. The label is understated and elegant, with the wine name on a white background. However, it's almost invisible on the shelf.

On the bottle, there are two stickers - one in English (I think) and the other in Russian, with the Russian one stuck on top of the English one. I'm happy to see a readable black font on a white background. I often come across stickers that are a real pain to read while trying to figure out the wine and its producer.

The sparkling wine is sealed with a traditional wooden cork. Nothing new or exciting there either. There's a tax stamp on the side, but I'm not really sure what it means.

The wine opened with a characteristic pop, without any effort.The aroma from the bottle seemed a bit strange with sour notes. It reminded me of a classic sparkling wine, but the fruity acidity dominated everything. Although the description said it should be:

Fresh, floral, and slightly creamy.

But I didn't experience any of that, and the available option is still quite pleasant.

The wine is extremely carbonated. It's impossible to pour a full glass on the first try.

After the foam settled, there was basically one sip left in the glass.It's tough to take a sip right away, the carbonation bubbles just knock you back. It's like I'm not drinking a decent wine, but some cheap soda. The color of the wine is light yellow, usually I get lighter - hay-like shades. A greenish tint is only visible under special lighting and at a certain angle. Personally, I see yellow and nothing else.You can only drink the wine a bit after it's had a chance to breathe, or rather, after the carbonation has died down a bit. Weirdly, it doesn't burn your mucous membranes and doesn't cause bloating. Initially, I had a different expectation.Drinking the wine is easy, and that's probably its only plus. You take a first sip and feel a refreshing sparkling flavor. I don't quite pick up on the promised notes of nuts or vanilla, I do get a hint of apple. Everything the manufacturer promised is missing, in my opinion. The main thing is that it's easy to drink and seems tasty.The only thing in the aftertaste is bitterness. Not fruity, not citrusy, just unpleasant bitterness, like smoke or maybe I just took some antibiotics. I don't know which one it's more like, but I definitely know it's NOT PLEASANT.

For dinner, I had a pizza delivered and some grapes. The wine pairs well with it, but the bitter aftertaste isn't overpowered by anything.Normally, by the evening, I drink a whole bottle of wine and feel relaxed. With Ferrari, I drank less than half in a couple of hours, and my head started hurting. My consciousness was a bit strange, and I had a slight disorientation. If it wasn't for the headache, I would have thought I'd been poisoned.The next evening, I finished the bottle with my husband, and my condition repeated itself. He said he felt a bit off too, but his head didn't hurt. Considering the bottle, my husband said there was no excise mark for foreign wine (there's 1, but you need 2 or 3, I'm not sure which). It looks like I bought a counterfeit or they got lost during shipping and nobody noticed.I won't buy this wine again, and I won't recommend it to anyone. Regardless of the option - a widely available counterfeit or a genuinely bad wine, I don't feel any better. I don't have the desire to try my luck again.I bought a similar wine at Perekrestok and it was way cheaper:

https://irecommend.ru/content/poprobovala-i-cherez...

And here's another option from Magnit:

I still have this wine on my first place, I'd definitely buy it again and recommend it to others.