A rum-inflected red blend for cocktail lovers
The red blend picks up notes of sugarcane from its rest in a rum barrel, adding to its appeal for spirits drinkers.
Great Wine Values
Three Finger Jack “Rum Barrel Aged” Red Blend – Lodi, California
$17.79 14.5% alcohol
PLCB Item #96461
Sale price through 1/28– regularly $20.79
Wines like this one that are matured in barrels that have been used for aging spirits are blurring the lines between the wine and spirit categories. These products taste much like standard wines, typically on the stronger and fruitier side, but accented with a detectable sensory impact from the spirit in question. Red wines aged in bourbon barrels were the first to catch on, typically blends that feature a smoky spice layer that appeals to whiskey drinkers. Whites are less common, but intriguing, as with those aged in tequila barrels that pick up a trace of the horseradish-like white heat associated with agave. As the spirit-barrel-aged wine category picks up steam, it is also diversifying, as exemplified here, where the base wine is a rich, plush blend dominated by merlot and syrah grapes from the warm-climate Lodi region of California. A portion of the wine spends two months in Caribbean rum barrels to add a caramelized, nutty accent reminiscent of rum raisin ice cream or the burnt sugar on a pistachio crème brûlée. While some spirit-aged wines feature the nose-tingling burn of alcohol content of up to 16% or more, this blend stays smooth and sippable at a more wine-like 14.5%.
What all spirits-aged wines have in common though is that they are horrifying the world’s vin-telligentsia, who see them as Frankenstein monsters of sorts. From their liquor-inspired packaging to ads showing these wines on the rocks in whiskey glasses, it’s clear that the current wave of premium-priced spirits-aged wines are overtly designed to appeal to whiskey and cocktail drinkers. The large corporate beverage conglomerates that dominate the spirit-barrel wine space are well aware that younger audiences are not embracing wine culture as fast as past generations. If their experiments aiming to convert non-wine drinkers into wine drinkers succeed though, the entire wine trade will benefit and that’s something even the most snobbish of wine originalists can raise a glass to.
Also available at:
Kreston Wine & Spirits in Wilmington, Del., - $14.99
Total Wine & More in Claymont, Del. - $14.99
Joe Canal’s in Marlton, N.J. - $14.99