Winey Tasting Notes: Getting Cryptic (NEW FAVORITE ALERT!)

According to the Cryptic wine website, “Encryption is the conversion of a message from readable form into a mysterious puzzle”. To me, this usually means math. And that includes balancing the Winey Family checkbook, a job which was yanked from me over a quarter of a century ago. The Winey children were also told (by their Winey father) that their Winey mom could not help them in math once they passed third grade. I couldn’t even defend myself. It’s true. And I don’t do puzzles either. They Winey hubby picks the hardest puzzle he can find to bring up to the beach every year. I buy 10 new books for my Kindle and a bottle of SPF 50. Get the picture here?

Front label

Back label

So one look at the front of the bottle of Cryptic California Red Wine (2010, 14.3%, California) kind of made me shudder. There was an encryption right on the label. And more on the back! Oh no. I usually don’t have to work that hard to figure out what I’m drinking. But I have to tell you, this wine was well worth the mental gymnastics I had to do to read the labels. (OK, it wasn’t THAT hard, really.) And I do love it when winemakers get all whimsical and funny and make us think for our vino.

What I love even more is this wine. To save you some of the decoding, it’s a blend of Zinfandel (44%), Cabernet Sauvignon (24%) and Petite Sirah (23%) and 9% other reds. (Yes, I added it up. It equals 100. So there.) The nose is dark berries, some dark spice and just a hint of smoke. It tastes of those berries, some black plum and some lovely warm oak. It finishes medium long, with a warm tingle on the end of your tongue and a hint of mocha. Such a velvety feel in the mouth! The absolute perfect blend of the Zinfandel’s fruits and the silky Cabernet and the very serious Petite Sirah. This is such a good wine. You don’t even need to let it sit – it pours wonderfully structured and flavorful right out of the bottle (trust me, I poured a lot in the interest of my blog). 

This would pair well with so many dishes. A big old pasta with lots of sauce comes to mind. As does a nice hot cheesy pizza or a grilled steak!

This has now entered the books (or the blog, I guess) as a Winey Mom favorite. Definitely not a puzzling choice (sorry, I had to). Even I, the “give me a book to read and go away with your puzzles and games” Winey mom, would solve puzzles for it. It’s that good!

Cheers!

I was sent this wine for review purposes. I am very very happy that I was and all the opinions above are my own. So is the opinion that you should buy this wine right now.