Vindie is a wine label created by Jeff Bundschu of the Gundlach Bundshu Winery and Rand Rognlien of Music Nomad, with winemaker Alison Crowe. The whole concept of the wine is for it to be paired wiiiith.... music. Yup! Music! That actually makes sense to me. I write all of my reviews to vastly different forms of music and, even though I don't think it influences whether I like the wine or not, it definitely influences the tone of the review. So I really like the idea of providing music for people to listen to that pairs well with their wine.
You can read more about this concept in my review of their Sonoma County 2014 Chardonnay, but here's a quick rundown:
There's a code that you scratch off on the back label, which you redeem on VINDIEWINE.COM to gain access to a playlist of eight songs by independent artists chosen for your bottle of wine. I made sure that it works on mobile, which I felt was pretty damn important. After redeeming your code it may tell you that there was an error with your code... but if you look to the left on your computer or scroll down on your mobile device, you'll see that your playlist was pulled up. Click on it, pour some wine, and enjoy.
The California 2014 Red Blend contains Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir all out of Monterey County, and Petite Sirah out of Lodi. 40% of it was aged in new oak, 60% of that in French oak and 20% in American oak. There's a 14% ABV. That's an interesting blend, no? Malbec and Pinot Noir together is an odd thing to think about. Well... don't they say you should do something once a day that scares you? Here we go.
Clean glass? Check. Spit bucket? Check. Wine? Check. Headphones? Check. Hop on VINDIEWINE.COM, put in the code, and I'm off. It's been a few days after I reviewed the Chardonnay and I didn't get the error that I did with that code! The album came right up with no mistaking that it didn't! That makes me happy.
The first song is "Gold" by Chet Faker and I'm really not a fan of it. But I'll roll with it. The color of the wine is straight-up purple. There's really not a lot going on with the nose at first. So I do some aggressive swirling to try and maybe open it up. By now "Rock & Roll Is Cold" by Matthew E. White comes on and it's GOD AWFUL! Forget about wine, this music shouldn't be paired with eardrums. Oh fuck no, where's the fast forward button?
And it goes right to another terrible song by the same guy. Terrific. The wine's opened up with some swirling and airing out, so I'd open it up like a half an hour before you drink it. There's aromas of exotic spices, graham crackers and mashed blueberries.
After those first three things some people call "songs", the music does get better but it's not something that I would listen to willingly. I can't even explain the genre. Hipster? Is there a music genre called hipster? I feel like I should be wearing like three scarves for no reason right now. Regardless, it's an improvement. But unfortunately the wine doesn't improve. It's light bodied and a bit tart. There's flavors of black cherry and a little bit of coffee. It finishes tart with acidity and black cherry.
After liking the Chardonnay and loving its music (even buying some of the songs on iTunes), I'm left here in a state of "meh" over the Red Blend. It's not BAD but it's a standard $10 quality blend that costs $18. And I'm really not digging the music. At all.
But like I said in the Chard review, the people involved in this project have a great idea and they're no strangers to music and wine. The Vindie label was just released in November so we're talking about a new product that needs time to grow and evolve, and I really hope they stick with it because I'm completely behind the concept and the cause.
The California 2014 Red Blend contains Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir all out of Monterey County, and Petite Sirah out of Lodi. 40% of it was aged in new oak, 60% of that in French oak and 20% in American oak. There's a 14% ABV. That's an interesting blend, no? Malbec and Pinot Noir together is an odd thing to think about. Well... don't they say you should do something once a day that scares you? Here we go.
Clean glass? Check. Spit bucket? Check. Wine? Check. Headphones? Check. Hop on VINDIEWINE.COM, put in the code, and I'm off. It's been a few days after I reviewed the Chardonnay and I didn't get the error that I did with that code! The album came right up with no mistaking that it didn't! That makes me happy.
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| WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP? |
And it goes right to another terrible song by the same guy. Terrific. The wine's opened up with some swirling and airing out, so I'd open it up like a half an hour before you drink it. There's aromas of exotic spices, graham crackers and mashed blueberries.
After those first three things some people call "songs", the music does get better but it's not something that I would listen to willingly. I can't even explain the genre. Hipster? Is there a music genre called hipster? I feel like I should be wearing like three scarves for no reason right now. Regardless, it's an improvement. But unfortunately the wine doesn't improve. It's light bodied and a bit tart. There's flavors of black cherry and a little bit of coffee. It finishes tart with acidity and black cherry.
After liking the Chardonnay and loving its music (even buying some of the songs on iTunes), I'm left here in a state of "meh" over the Red Blend. It's not BAD but it's a standard $10 quality blend that costs $18. And I'm really not digging the music. At all.
But like I said in the Chard review, the people involved in this project have a great idea and they're no strangers to music and wine. The Vindie label was just released in November so we're talking about a new product that needs time to grow and evolve, and I really hope they stick with it because I'm completely behind the concept and the cause.
WINE RATING
OVERALL EXPERIENCE RATING
QUALITY VS PRICE RATING
Price: $18
Rating: 2/5 = Not Impressive (what does that mean?)
The bottle used was supplied free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.
The bottle used was supplied free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.
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