pop & pour

Best label ever?

Holy crap.

First, to get this out of the way, this is one of my favourite wine labels of all time.  Orin Swift Cellars, probably best known for its signature red blend The Prisoner, are no strangers to killer marketing.  Unfortunately, they are also no strangers to huge, boozy, monster reds that pound your palate into submission.

Abstract is a brand new blend (Grenache, Syrah, Petite Sirah) celebrating its first ever vintage, and it is a sledgehammer:  15.7% alcohol and every bit of it shows.  The mouthfeel is impressively not as viscous as I would have expected for such a hot wine, and there are nice sweet fruit flavours here, but this is all about overt power and concentration and leaves me wishing for just a bit of subtlety and restraint (something I never would have said two years ago). A well-made wine, but too much of a blunt instrument for my liking.

85 points

[Editor's JARGON Note:  hot = unbalanced due to too much alcohol]