19 Crimes

I opened a bottle of red wine tonight to have a glass with dinner. I had been attempting to try this bottle of wine for years now, ever since I gifted it to myself for Christmas. It’s called “19 Crimes,” and frankly I just liked the label. The label talks about how it’s based on convict wine made in Australia in the 1800s, but there’s no information about how the wine actually tastes like you see on many labels. So, I had no idea if it was sweet or dry, fruity or nutty, or anything else. It was like wine roulette!

My spousal unit and mother-in-law decided to give it a try as well. My mother-in-law took one sip, and her face twisted up in an almost pained expression. One of her eyes closed in a squint, her lips were pursed, and her head involuntarily cocked to one side. I laughed because it was the exact same reaction I had had when I took my first sip. The wine was very dry and smoky-flavored. I’d almost describe it as rough and strong, a very bold wine and not initially to my liking.

So, I took another sip to see if maybe it got better with each taste. It did not. My face contorted into the exact same expression, and I sarcastically said in a low, husky voice, “Very smooth…I can really feel my throat burning all the way down…good stuff.” To which my mother-in-law and spousal unit busted out laughing.

I downed two glasses, partly because I didn’t want to waste the money I had spent on it and partly because I was enjoying the dizzy, spinning feeling that I had gotten after the first glass. Of course that same feeling made it a little difficult to walk back across the kitchen to the bottle, and I had to make a wide left turn around the counter.