Tasting - 19 Crimes Red Wine

Name: 19 Crimes: The Uprising

Variety: Red Blend

Region: Barossa Valley

Country: Australia

Year: 2017

Price: $10.00

Winery Review: Medium red with bright ruby red hues, this wine confidently takes charge with intense lifted mocha, caramel and sweet spice aromatics balanced with raspberry and blackberry fruits. Full and round on the palate with a distinct sweetness making the wine rich and mouth coating. The mocha and sweet spice aromatics carry through on the palate and compliment subtle flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. The palate has a long rich plus finish filled with jammy blackberry and raspberry flavors.

My Review: This week my theme is fun bottles. I originally bought this wine a while ago because I thought it was fun. The company makes a series of wines called 19 Crimes and they are all different varieties. You can download an app on your phone and when you hold your phone up to the bottle, it tells you the store of the inmate pictured on the bottle. Pretty neat! Now to see if this thing actually tastes good.

The winery description was kind of all over the place for me and had a lot of promise with its mouthwatering flavor descriptions. Also, it didn't give what types were blended, just a fancy story about a long time ago. This wine didn't taste like anything that was promised. When I first opened it, it smelled very vinegary. I was worried that it might have gone bad before I even got to try it. When I tasted it by itself, I kid you not, it tasted like ground beef. So strange!

I let it sit open on the counter for about two days? I was too busy the night before and kind of forgot it was there. Anywho, I tried it after the 48 hours and it calmed itself down. The ground beef was no longer and it gave way to a hint of blackberry with a earthy, cedar finish. I assume it had such a strong finish of wood because it was aged 30 days in a barrel. It was an off-putting flavor to say the least. It also sweetened up quite a bit after it sat out and made it more palatable. I tried it with a muenster and a sharp cheddar. It didn't really add or subtract from the flavor. It was just kind of blah.

Overall, I probably wouldn't buy this to pair with anything. It wasn't that great. However, the bottle is pretty cool looking and has a neat concept with the phone app and all. Might be neat just to have around in a collection for a talking piece, but find something else to drink for that conversation.