like velveeta = cheese. Today I learned to read all labels more carefully. I picked up a bottle of Arbor Mist wine at the grocery store. Since I don't usually chill wine I hadn't chilled that which turned out to be a good thing. One sip and I knew I didn't want to drink it at room temp. I thought it tasted pretty sweet for a merlot and looked at the label - 21 grams of sugars in one glass of wine! Then I checked the ingredients. The first three are merlot, water and high fructose corn syrup. Apparently I'd purchased a high octane wine cooler

The moral of this story - read all labels.

So true. My problem is I only like the sweet drinks. Which pretty much means I will be giving up drinking for a while. Not that I drink often, but when I do, I tend to do a lot of sweet drinks.

I wish I could learn to like red wine. Or any wine for that matter.

Actually, I am a super-sweet, or creamy-drink fan myself, however, I have weirdly developed a taste for red wine (still don't like white). Meeko 77, there is hope, some red wines are actually quite fruity and somehow "satisfying" a Yellowtail Shiraz comes to mind. It did take me awhile to develop a taste for it, but I did and now I rarely have the sweet, creamy drinks that I used to love so much. I think I started drinking red wine when I went out because it lasted longer and was lower in calories than my other faves and one day I realized that I'd actually developed a taste for it. So if I can, anyone can! Hmm, is it happy hour yet?

Haha... back in college, we used to refer to Arbor Mist as a 40oz. of wine cooler. I honestly feel that the target market for a product like that is females under the age of 21.

It's a shame that your purchase had to go to waste. Especially since I am sure you were looking forward to relaxing with a glass of wine

I can see it as a drive-in drink. We used to take Mike's a lot for that. It's certainly not a SBD beverage though. Luckily I had another bottle of Italian red so I'm set

Ooh, totally OT, but I have never been to a drive-in. The last one in Jersey closed when I was very young. An experience I am afraid I will never have...

Thanks for that info, Cyndi. I have two bottles of Arbor Mist in the fridge, and I'm embarrassed to say that I never even considered looking at the labels. Lesson learned. I'll save them for guests.

It never occurred to me before either. I assumed that if it came in a wine bottle and was sold in the wine department it was wine. I was a bit embarrassed when I read the label. I really hate sneaky added sugar

There is a drive-in right down the road from me, should be opening for the season in April.

Oh and I like the sweet wines, Bug Juice is my fav.

It's just a slightly more dignified version of Boone's Farm.

Ah, fond memories of Boone's Farm - back in the 70's

I'm a dry red kinda gal now

Very true. I call it Boone's Farm of the 90's, because we were drinking it when I was in college (late 90's) and not old enough to drink (shhhh don't tell) .

I do remember Arbor Mist being very sweet - which is probably why I liked it. Now, give me a good Riesling or Chardonnay anyday. I'm even learning to like Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir.

I'm still kind of shocked that Arbor Mist has HFCS in it though!

Now...you made me look!

My husband bought a bottle of red wine called menage a trois. (hee hee hee...I told him it's the closest he'll ever get!! He keeps asking me if I liked it...)

It doesn't have anything on a label ...sugar, ingredients, etc. Do you assume there's no added HFCS? It doesn't taste that sweet to me, but I did enjoy it.

Real wine is just grapes so they don't need to list ingredients. I think I was too old to know about Arbor Mist. I was drinking tequila when it was popular with the younger crowd I was lured by the thought of a raspberry merlot because I fell in love with a local cranberry wine. Oops. I will certainly watch labels for the "a X product" rather than just "X". I think that's where I got in trouble.