Dry and I have differing opinions on many things, which is what makes being friends interesting. One of those is wine labels. She believes the best wine comes packaged in the most old-fashioned, simple labels. I believe in giving most wines a chance. Somebody poured their heart and soul into it so I’m definitely willing to try the wine, no matter what bottle it comes in.

Although after my recent experience with a bottle that has two elephants and a circus tent on the label, I might be changing my opinion.

I recently tried the 2007 Petite/Petit, a bottle we had received free for review. It’s a blend of 85 percent Petite Sirah and 15 percent Petit Verdot. It’s filled with grapes from the Lodi region of California. It was truly a gorgeous ruby-garnet color that conveyed royalty. The aroma gave off (to me) raspberries and blackberries in a very fruity package. Okay, so far so good.

But that’s where the good ended. On the palate, it was unbalanced, too tannic and had a spicy mouth feel. There was nothing smooth or velvety about this wine and I felt like the edges were ragged and pointy. To be noted, some people like this wine and it will suit those who like big, powerful, spicy wines well. But it didn’t do it for me.

I tried. I really did. I stopped drinking it and let it breathe for a couple of hours. And then I tried again. No better. My glass of this went down the drain. And just to doublecheck, my roommate also had a glass and (very politely) dumped hers in the sink, too.

I’m not saying I’m going to stop drinking wine with cute labels. God knows, my mother buys wine based on the penguins on her bottles. But I might stick with more serious labels for, oh, say the next two weeks until the memory of this Petite/Petit is not just small but faded to a bad dream.