07 Sep Aussie red blend – 19 Crimes Limited Edition Revolutionary Blend
There’s a glut of wine in Australia.
How much of a glut?
It’s estimated that for every Australian citizen,
there are 100 surplus bottles of Australian wine sitting in storage.
That might explain why a “limited edition” of one particular Australian wine
doesn’t appear to be limited at all.
You can still find it…some six months after its limited launch.
It’s Wine Thursday, our weekly check out
of a good wine that sells at a reasonable price
and is easy to find at the store and online.
This week, we’re digging into the latest addition
to the wildly-successful 19 Crimes portfolio,
an eclectic collection of affordable, accessible offerings
that wine purists dismiss and the wine drinking public adores.
.
Where it’s from
Some 10 years ago, Australian mega-producer Treasury Wine Estates
combined clever stories about nefarious criminals with augmented reality-enabled labels.
They called their creation 19 Crimes.
The wine world called it lightning-in-a-bottle…a lot of bottles.
The brand recently quadrupled in size.
Nearly 2.5 million cases of 19 Crimes wine are sold annually.
What it is
This week’s featured wine, the Limited Edition Revolutionary Red Blend,
seems to have hit a speed bump, a rare occurrence for a 19 Crimes product.
The blend was released on a limited basis almost six months ago
as a St. Patrick’s Day special.
Note the green label.
But now, almost six months later, the Limited Edition is still readily available.
And that’s a positive.
This is a decent wine for what it is…a pleasant surprise.
A unique combination of Shiraz/Syrah and Chardonnay,
this is a dry but fruit-forward red with bing cherry,
chocolate and spicy notes up front.
It needs air.
Straight out of the bottle, there’s a slight medicinal tinge.
If you have patience, open it, replace the cork,
put it in the fridge and revisit the next day.
24 hours later, this wine was very much improved.
It would partner well with burgers, steaks and/or pizza.
And make sure to download the app which enables you
to play the augmented-reality label video. It’s good fun.
Where to buy it
Again, this was supposed to be gone by late spring.
But we found it this week at Fred Meyer for $10.99.
Same $10.99 price at Albertsons. QFC has it for $11.99.
We saw it on the shelf at Safeway for $12.99.
The price at Ralphs is $15.99.
You can order it from ABC Fine Wine for $9.99
Best Buy Liquors has it for $9.89
WineDeals.com’s price is $9.99
It’s at Central Wine Merchants for $10.98
https://www.centralwinemerchants.com
And Universal Fine Wine’s price is $10.99