Victoria Wine Gums

There's a shopping mall in Los Angeles called The Grove, which is next to the Farmers Market.  The two competing malls do not validate parking for the other's stores, and the several restaurants caught in no man's land between the two don't validate for either.  Rather than pay close to ten dollars for parking just to have a meal, I drop in to the Cost Plus World Market and buy something less expensive.  They validate, and I have something to show for the money spent - even if it is just a cheap bottle of wine or some candy for the movies.

The Grove made it into the news recently for an unfortunate occurrence which happened just an hour after we left.  The seven-story leap taken by a troubled individual left onlookers shaken and disturbed afterward.  In an attack of gallows humor, we wondered if maybe he had just seen "Rock of Ages" before deciding to end it all.

Anyway, on that visit to The Grove, my wife pointed out a candy purchase I had to try.  Wine Gums, made by Victoria, are just little gummy candies that contain no alcohol.  Curiously, they also contain no aromas or flavors of any kind of wine I've enjoyed.  I'm not a gummy candy fan to start with, and these confections did nothing to win me over.

They are very aromatic, but they smell more like scented candles than wine.  The flavors are your standard Jolly Rancher fruit, but maybe a little more intense - not that it's a good thing.  There are a bounty of colors in the bag, but none of them match wine in any way.

The big attraction - for me - was finding that maker Glisten Confectionery is located in Blackburn, Lancashire.  That's where the Beatles found 4,000 holes - and had to count them all - in the song from Sgt. Pepper.  Had they been outfitted with a collection of these candies, they could have deposited them in each of the holes and nobody would have missed them.


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