I’m not usually one to buy celebrity wines. I try to avoid them because they irritate me. I don’t like buying wine where I know that the celebrity is just using their name, has no idea how the wine is made and maybe visits the winery once a year. But with Snoop Dogg, my feelings are a little different.
In my eyes, there are two things that give him some credibility. First, he has been a wine connoisseur for a long time. He actually knows a thing or two. Second, he spends time at the winery. He’s the one that spends time getting the blends to his own tastes. He chooses grapes that grow well in their locations and he respects where he and the grapes come from.
I also like where his marketing is at. He’s trying to respect the people who are buying his wine by making decent wine for a reasonable price, as well as respecting his past. His brand and labels represent that idea in an interesting way. He uses people who were convicted of crimes (hence the 19Crimes) and transported to the Australian penal colony. These people, in various ways, got a second chance at life, like he did, and became successful.
The 19Crimes CaliRosé is the newest of the 19Crimes wines, having come out just before Mother’s Day. It is an unusual blend for a Rosé-Zinfandel, Grenache and Pinot Noir. On the nose, it has the aromas of strawberry, cherry, cranberry and spice. It also has this peach yogurt aroma that is always a Zinfandel tell for me.
The flavors, however, are very different. This is like a fruit salad in your mouth. It is very cherry and strawberry forward and I do get the peach yogurt sweetness from the Zinfandel. The sweetness is balanced by the tartness of the cranberry and the slight tannic bitterness of skin contact during fermentation. I do wish there was a little more acid to counteract some of the sweetness, but there is enough there to make the wine relatively balanced. Another bonus for this wine is the alcohol content-a low 10.5% abv. This alcohol content makes this wine a perfect porch pounder. What is that? It’s a wine (or beer) that you can drink all day and not get drunk. Perfect for hot summer days on the patio.
One caveat with this wine is not to chill it too much. When it’s really cold, the cherry flavor gets lost and the other flavors are somewhat dulled. The best thing to do is to pull it out of the refrigerator 1/2 hour before you’re going to drink it and let it warm up a bit. Then, you will get the benefit of all of the flavors but it is still cool and refreshing.
I hope that you give this wine a chance. After all, that’s what this wine is all about, second chances and enjoyment of life.