THE EXPERT Arabella Woodrow Master of Wine and wine buyer for Forth Wine This has a very bright pink colour with fierce bubbles but little mousse. There is a slightly confected bubblegum nose which has a reasonably authentic cranberry nip to it. It is medium sweet with a nice fruit flavour which does not seem artificial. There is good acidity and a refreshing floral and citrus finish. I like its look, it has an attractive presentation. Also, the trendy ingredient ­ cranberry ­ should make it a success. It has a more interesting and genuine flavour than many other such offerings Success rating out of 25 ­ 24 THE DESIGNER Matt Thompson Associate director of Blackburn's, a brand packaging designer Little effort appears to have gone into putting this pack together. Forty minutes on the computer would be an exaggerated guess. Endless possibilities are squandered in favour of a silver label and token red square' in which a two headed eagle (actually an Imperialist crest) portrays a rather confused Russian heritage. All this only serves to affirm it has been rather hastily cobbled together. If what you see is what you get, then this drink can be no match for its bolshie adversaries. Yet another setback, then, for the creative revolution. Success rating out of 25 ­ 4 The buyer Adam Marshall Licensed trading controller at Nisa-Today's Halewood certainly knows how to capitalise on a success story. Following Red Square Energy, Tequila and Ice comes this cranberry version which uses the current buzzword ­ Ice! The bottle carries no explanation as to the use of Ice', so it would be easy to cynically suggest this idea is spongeing off Smirnoff's success. The product is, however, very good and has a strong pleasant cranberry taste while delivering a good (5.5% abv) punch. The packaging is good and clean and the product colour superb. This version will no doubt be successful and is likely to be heralding the onslaught of a million me-toos' and own labels. Success rating out of 25 ­ 18 Total score out of 100 ­ 68 {{DRINKS }}

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