Review: 2015 Apothic Crush and Red
California-based Apothic specializes in weird blends at low prices (the whiskey-barrel-aged Inferno is one to also read about), and its two latest releases — Crush and Red, both likely bulk wine buys blended to make the best possible finished product the blender could come up with — are no exception to the rule.
Let’s pop a couple of corks and see what we think.
2015 Apothic Crush – A blend “led by” petite sirah and pinot noir. Clearly driven more by the former, this is a fruit-heavy expression of strawberry and blueberry, filtered through milk chocolate and caramel sauce. It’s thick and almost gooey, and the sweetness can be a bit unbearable at times — though it is fortunately rescued to some degree by a scatter of baking spices on the finish. C+ [BUY IT NOW FROM DRIZLY]
2015 Apothic Red – A mutt of a blend of zinfandel, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot. Relatively innocuous next to Crush — or perhaps my palate has just become accustomed to the sugar rush — it also features chocolate notes but filtered through notes of blackberry bramble, banana, and jasmine. A tad more interesting. B- [BUY IT NOW FROM DRIZLY]
each $14