No doubt…we are big fans of Australian wines.  Now, granted, some are WAY better than others, but as a general rule, we’ve come to appreciate big, bold Australian wines.  When we started our red wine sojourn several years ago, we remember trying a wine from Australia made by . . . and thought we had died and gone to heaven.  We could only buy it at Specs and would go out of our way to buy it…and at less than $9 a bottle, we thought that we were living life large!  Uh, that is until we tried a different wine from Australia that was better.  WAY better!

Tonight we also give a SO to Scott and Kathryn – congrats on 17 years of bliss . . . you two are a great example for all of us!  Here’s to 17 plus more !!!!

Fast forward a few years and we meet Patrick Wilt from Grape Juice and he introduces us to a big Australian wine called, Ball Buster.  If you’ve been following this blog for any time, you’ll know that we’ve talked about Ball Buster and to this day, it remains one of our favorite wines. . .hands down!  The memory of the previous Australian wine was gone the minute we tried this wine.  It had so much taste and smoothness, that the other wine didn’t. . .we KNEW that we’d “graduated” to the next level of wine enjoyment.

Push to button to go forward to today and we’ve once again found an Australian wine that knocked out socks off.  The name alone was enough to stop Jean in her tracks. . .along with a VERY cool bottle. . .19 Crimes from Australia.  If you read the label, the story details how criminals in Britain—back in the late 1700’s—instead of being sentenced to death, were sentenced to transportation.  Yes, transportation. . .as in transported from Britain to the colony of Australia. . .along the way, many criminals died, but those who survived became the founding families for that land.  It’s a great story and the wine that is named after it is equally up to the task.

This bottle of 19 Crimes features the picture of John Boyle O’Reilly. . .an Irish poet who was arrested, tried and convicted of mutiny and was sentenced to 20 years in the Australian penal colony.  Even though Mr. O’Reilly has a relationship with the daughter of a constable, his escape was arranged through cooperation with a Priest on the island.  The wine, on the other hand, is hardly criminal. . .in fact, it’s almost like royalty.  The nose wasn’t overly attractive, but gave hints of raspberry, cocoa, and even hints of strawberry.  The taste was smooth, fruity and had a nice kick on the finish.  While we’re pretty sure that other reviews would give totally different information than what we’re writing. . .we really liked this wine. And for the money, we’ll definitely try to get more.  We picked it up at Western Beverage in Kerrville for around $12, , ,not bad for the money  . . . a new addition to the Bondy Deck Wine list.

Speaking of Kerrville, we spent the day getting the house ready for the market.  So, if you know someone looking to buy a great property in Kerrville, let us know, we’ve got a great place—2,200 square feet—and we’d love to show it to you.  From a fresh coat of paint to weeding the planter beds, we spent a busy summer day. . .and really enjoyed and were rewarded by tonight’s blog wine. . .19 Crimes.

You’ll be pardoned for enjoying it!  For the record, enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and remember to recycle whenever possible.