As the holidays near, the alcoholic chocolates have begun appearing on the shelves, wrapped up in packages as shiny as the red faces of the drunk salarymen on the last train home. Or my red face after drinking one beer, if it comes down to that.

My tendency to turn hopelessly red in a way that prompts everyone around me to say, "Oh my god, you are so RED!" after only half a drink may be why I keep trying alcoholic chocolate. (I have an inactive enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 and therefore cannot process alcohol, if you're wondering. Thanks, Dad.) Because even I can handle a mere 0.9% alcohol. This has, of course, led to mistakes (cough*Rummy*cough), even in the realm of wine candy (oh, the yucky omiyage).

But Winoa is actually, amazingly kind of good. Much like umeshu chocolate, Winoa has a fruity, raspberry-like flavor that blends well with the dark chocolate coating. One little stick is enough to satisfy a mild chocolate-and-red-wine craving. Though it's definitely not as good as sipping a glass of cheap-but-good Trader Joe's wine while eating a handful of the TJ's dark and milk chocolate covered cranberries. Mmm...

[Insert 5 minute fantasy about wandering the aisles of Trader Joe's. While eating a taco.]

Anyway. Within the box, the candies are packaged in a strange sort of flat pudding pack. There are two servings which you can split apart and peel the foil coverings from. I can only assume this is some way of sharing Winoa with your sweetie, the way you might split a bottle of wine together after a romantic candlelit dinner. Except it would be more like splitting some Jello pudding packs together. So I guess this candy is good for kids. Red-faced drunks and kids.