Wednesday, May 7, 2008

New Product Wednesday, at Dallas-area stores: Azul blue agave wine margarita

By Teresa Gubbins

Azul is a margarita in a bottle, ready to pour, no mixing, no ice in a blender, just glug glug glug.

But Azul is different from regular margaritas in that it's made with wine. Wine made from agave -- the same plant used to make tequila. But the alcohol is lower: Regular tequila is around 40% alcohol; this Agave wine is 7.5% (for the blue) and 11% (for the green "Especiale").

Let's do "taste" first and then get into the "reporting".

Taste

A panel of Pegasus staffers tried it. Panels always make a tasting seem more "legit", don't they? Everyone liked them (and not just because they were free). "Sweet with a kick, like a high-dollar Slurpee," said one taster. "Pretty impressive," said another.

The majority (everyone but me) preferred the blue. "You do really get a hit of the tequila with the green one, but the blue one is smoother and sweeter," said one taster. "The blue one is better -- it actually tastes like a regular margarita," said a second. "And it's stronger than I expected of a premixed mixed drink," before opining that pre-mixed drinks are usually "weak and too sugary".

Factoids

The packaging and convenience are big pluses. The bottles are plastic, not glass, which means you can put them in the freezer, then take them out and squeeze the semi-solid liquid into a glass for an instant frozen margarita.

The fact that these are wine and not alcohol also increases their availability: You can buy them in supermarkets, convenience stores -- anyplace that beer and wine are sold -- and that includes being able to buy them on a Sunday.

Last but not least, Azul comes from a company based in Carrollton -- one with multiple Web site presences. There's the site for the product itself, plus the site for its winery entity, and finally, the site for the company, Specialty Blends, which makes a whole range of "alcohol-flavored wines" (including one that's "flavored" like vodka, which is fascinating since vodka has virtually no flavor at all).

According to the "Info" page, Specialty Blends was founded in 1998 by David Tindol to make a neutral-tasting wine for drive-through daiquiri stands, and has six products popular at stadiums and sports venues. Tindol partnered with Charles Moore, founder of Lemon Chill, who brought his knowledge of citrus-y fruity flavors.

The lower-alcohol, slightly-sweeter, more-people-pleasing blue Azul is $9.99. The higher-alcohol Especiale is $18.

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• Food and Drink > Wine

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