Ahhh, black labels. Black labels in consumables is now taken
to mean some sort of specialness, whether in a reserve (such as in hot sauce)
or in a limited edition, like with liquor or here, a special edition wine. I’m
not a fan of Cupcake in general, but it is the sacred duty here at the HSC, to
monitor all developments in the price arena in which we operate and slapping a
special label on a bottle is definitely enough for me to take it through the
rounds.
Here, Cupcake goes full tilt, labeling this thing as
decadent (over and over, ad nauseam, on the bottle label) and in color, at
least, they are on the money. This is a very dark, deep, lush pour. I back
that. It was very nice to see in the glass and had my immediate interest. After
a very moderate wait time, maybe 20 – 30 minutes, we dove in and while decadent
it was not (Cupcake tends to make very light and despite the name, not overly
sweet, wines), it was quite tasty. Again, despite the color, this was on the
lighter side, but it was a very solid, very respectable and enjoyable sipping
wine, just the thing the HSC looks for.
Is this stunning? Nope, definitely not that and if you’ve
been sampling bottles from this list prior to this, you will already be aware
of several other more prominent worthies. It’s more like how someone (falsely)
characterized Pabst Blue Ribbon, as a workingman’s beer, meaning a solid,
day-in, day-out, thing to have on tap, a regular for the regulars, if you will.
While that description is not apropos for PBR, it definitely is here. This is a
nice, inoffensive bottle to have on hand and will generally be well-received
for a fairly wide, if undemanding, audience, a stable, “house” wine, so to
speak, to stock and have on hand. I doubt it will store, but for parties,
especially given the price point, this one will be hard to beat.
About that blend, we have Cabernet Sauvignon doing the
lion’s share, Merlot at the next greatest amount, yet only about half of the
Cab, Zinfandel then coming behind, followed by the ever-smoothing Petit Verdot
and with some grace notes from Petite Syrah. Despite two heavy hitters doing
most of the heavy lifting, percentage-wise, this is the wine I’d think of first
when asked to describe what “accessible” means in a wine. Mouth-feel, taste,
all of it is quite enjoyable and never demanding. Is there better? Definitely,
but also way worse and this fits very nicely – and solidly – into a very good
niche in the center, a good wine for people who have been hit with an
astringent Cab or Zin and are consequently scared of reds as a result. If this
won’t convert them, nothing will.
As a special edition, I don’t anticipate ever seeing this on
SPA, unless either sales flatline (given that this is a Cupcake entry, probably
no chance of that) or they make it a regular SKU. While I found it enjoyable, I
like a little more oomph to my wine, so while this is worthy enough to get on
the HSC list, I can’t see me buying it regularly enough to be a Standard. Thus,
Mixed it is.
