Looks like a Deadwood episode, tastes a fair bit better.
I’ve seen this bottle in every wine store I’ve been in over the past couple of months, so I presume it’s attracted some critical mass of popularity and is doing well for itself. I didn’t buy it for that reason, however, or because of its admittedly compelling bottle frosting and showstopper labelling. I bought it because I felt sure that the makeup of this red blend was some sort of elaborate winemaker’s pun. 19 Crimes is a mixture of Shiraz and Durif. Shiraz, as I discussed in my last review, is the same grape as Syrah. Durif also has a more commonly known alias; in North America and elsewhere, it’s usually called Petite Sirah. So this wine is actually a Syrah/Petite Sirah blend…Syrahs of all sizes? Not quite. Petite Sirah is not a type or class of Syrah but a stand-alone grape variety…and while we’re at it, nothing about it is petite at all once it hits the glass: its diminutive first name refers to the size of its grapes on the vine rather than its flavours or structure. Since Petite Sirah’s grapes are smaller, this creates a larger ratio of skins to juice, and since the skins are where a red wine’s colour and tannin resides, this makes most Petite Sirahs deep, thick, opaque and massive. But still not Syrahs. Who said learning about wine was hard? Read the rest of this entry »
