"If hints of cassis, subtle earthiness, and jammy notes don’t interest you, you are not a lesser person. "
Here's a nice tip: Buy cheap wine and crème de cassis. Crème de cassis is an intensely flavored liquer made from blackcurrants (and loads of sugar). One of it's original uses was as a "condiment" for cheap wine. Some cafes used to put it out so customers could add it to their wine if they didn't like the wine. Today, the mixture of Cassis and white wine is called Kir, which is one of the most popular cocktails in France. A little cassis makes a good wine better, and a lot makes even a terrible wine possible to drink.
You might find it interesting that crème de cassis is the top mixer in Japan. Nearly every bar and drinking place serves crème de cassis and orange juice as well as crème de cassis and oolong tea. Both are great and I'm a little surprised crème de cassis is so rare in the USA. Many bars have a bottle but it is rarely used.
Yeah, it's weird how unpopular it is in North America, except for Quebec. Quebec even produces the stuff, but good luck finding Quebecois crème de cassis (which is damned good) in Western Canada.
Warning: crème de cassis does go off if it's on the shelf for long enough. It doesn't get better with age. Try to buy it from a place where the bottles don't have too much dust on them.
"Cider and black" or "snakebite and black" (lager, cider, "black") are popular drink with teenagers and students in Britain, but the black is blackcurrant syrup.
Relatively recently, the large drinks companies have started selling cider and fruit flavours premixed in bottles.
Here's a nice tip: Buy cheap wine and crème de cassis. Crème de cassis is an intensely flavored liquer made from blackcurrants (and loads of sugar). One of it's original uses was as a "condiment" for cheap wine. Some cafes used to put it out so customers could add it to their wine if they didn't like the wine. Today, the mixture of Cassis and white wine is called Kir, which is one of the most popular cocktails in France. A little cassis makes a good wine better, and a lot makes even a terrible wine possible to drink.