This year, 2008, marks the 30th anniversary of Kent Rosenblum's foray into professional wine making under the Rosenblum Cellars label, hence XXX marks the vintage. The reference to adult cinema cannot be missed and is mentioned on the label: "Vintner's Cuvée XXX is not X-rated, but it is a spicy, overt and fruit-forward wine, filled with bright raspberry and cherry flavors."
This year the 60-something Rosenblum sold his label to Diageo, the international drinks giant, known for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Crown Royal, José Cuervo, Smirnoff, Bailey's, and many more. Their wine portfolio is one of the U.S. top 10 in sales. Not looking to get out of the business, Rosenblum agreed to stay on to oversee wine making and promote the brand.
This is certainly the trend of 2008: the big wine "houses" are getting bigger, and the small and medium houses have to mount a successful contra-marketing campaign to get noticed outside their tasting rooms. This parallels a trend towards more retail markets opening up wine sales to grocery stores and mass merchandisers, something currently being discussed hotly in Tennessee, my backyard.
Like it or not, gone are the days when oenological ideology and a small nest egg was enough to launch a competitive wine business. But like any trend, this one may reverse itself one day, the same way brewery consolidation eventually led to a rebirth of microbreweries.
Meantime, Rosenblum's Vintner's Cuvée Zinfandel is easy to recommend, and always has been for me, because the quality is consistently excellent for the money. Expect lots of dark berry cherry fruit plus overtones of spice and vanilla, all very well displayed to the senses, smoothly textured, on a youthfully muscular frame and finish. Let's hope Kent Rosenblum really hangs around for Cuvées to come.
In reference to this being Cuvée XXX, let me quote the venerable Poet Laureate Billy Collins from his book, Ballistics, his poem titled Pornography. Collins isn't describing a bottle of wine, but this poem immediately came to my mind for Vintner's Cuvée XXX.
to fill me with the urge to lie down with you,
or someone very much like you,
on a cool marble floor or any fairly flat surface
as clouds go flying by
and the rustle of tall leafy trees
mixes with the notes of birdsong -
so clearly does the work speak of vanishing time,
obsolete musical instruments,
passing fancies, and the corpse
of the largely forgotten painter moldering
somewhere beneath the surface of present-day France."
In summary, I disagree with the label. This wine is definitely X-rated, which means I very much recommend it.
Price: $12 (Nashville). Closure: Noma/Neocork. Alcohol content: 14.6%.













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