On The Shelf – Delinquente Wines Montepulciano

By The Lady

“Sometimes you’ve got to heed the call of the wild child within. Sometimes you’ve got to go home with a bunch of grapes who’re ugly as sin”

Girl, you know we went home with those “ugly as sin” grapes and showed them the time of their lives. By drinking them.

We here at The Cocktail Challenge always like to keep our eyes peeled for dapper looking, locally made liquor. As soon as we saw the labels of Delinquente Wine Co., we knew that we needed to have some. We have been wanting to try this one out for AGES. Finally, we stumbled upon this beauty during a browsing sesh at East End Cellars and we felt like we’d hit the jackpot.

Delinquente Wines are a local crew, sourcing their grapes in the Riverland and producing their wine here in South Australia. Not only do they kick ass already by being a small batch local wine producer, but they also ensure that their wines are vegan friendly. While The Gentleman is just about the opposite of a vegan, I myself dabble in the ways of veganity. Many people are not aware, but a great deal of liquor makes use of the ingredients that render their products as not suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Luckily, the vegos and vegans of the world can now get their draaank on with Delinquente Wine Co!

The artwork for their labels and their website is created by local street artist Ankles. All of their current wines are presented in a very similar design style with each featuring their own heavily tattooed badass character to personify the wine. The Montepulciano features “The Bullet Dodger” character, with his heavily tattooed face, mullet hair and pouted lips. We love the little story Delinquente have printed on the back of the bottle to introduce us to “The Bullet Dodger”, it just gives the wine extra character and intrigue. Plus it’s quite hilarious as we all know exactly the type of person Delinquente are describing. Other bottles present an illustrated Pretty Boy and a stylised Screaming Betty.  I have seen Ankles work out and about in Adelaide and have loved the artist’s style for a long time. Really, it is no surprise that I am swooning over Delinquente Wine Co and their inked individuals.

The wine itself is incredibly easy to drink and rather delicious. It has a rather light colour and a touch of translucency (is this a word? After polishing off the whole bottle it is definitely a word). The lighter plum colour was unexpected, but still a delightful looking glass o’ wine. The scent of The Bullet Dodger is full of fruity and berry scents with a creamy texture to boot! It is very light and we feel it would go perfectly with a number of meals, or also suitable on its own. It leaves this lovely spiciness on your tongue which would stand up perfectly on its own or compliment a meal rather well. They refer to the grapes they use as “ugly” but think this wine is anything but. The Bullet Dodger is a beautiful wine inside and out.

We are thoroughly looking forward to continuing our Delinquente ways by trying some of their other tasty treats. We’ll keep you posted on which tattooed creatures we next meet!

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On The Shelf – Arthur Wines ‘Glass Slipper’ White Fortified Wine

By The Gentleman

 

As part of running The Cocktail Challenge The Lady and I have got the blog plastered over every social media platform we can find to get the word out there that we really like drinking. The best thing about being on these platforms is people not only find out about our blog, but we can find out what other people are up to. This On The Shelf is completely the result of  putting the blog on Pinterest, getting followed by the creative director at design and branding agency Studio Lost & Found and perusing what they have worked on. We came across these two very pretty ladies and simply had to find out more.

The Glass Slipper White Fortified Wine is made by Arthur Wines in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. I’ve never had fortified wine before and The Lady hasn’t had much before but we both saw the labels and decided we had to have it regardless. Luckily, after tasting it, we realised the contents were just as good as the label. The Glass Slipper displays hints of lemon, lime, and meringue. It smells quite nice when you open the bottle, a very sweet but not overpowering smell. The Lady and I had a taste on it’s own, which was very sweet, but hey that’s fortified wine for you. We then mixed it with a bit of lemonade and surprisingly it actually tasted a bit like a lemon meringue pie! And who doesn’t love lemon meringue pie?  This is definitely the sort of drink that will go down really well in the summer. It’s very fresh and tastes as good as the bottle looks.

The bottle though, oh the bottle. It has such a lovely shape, something you’d see more with spirits than wine. With the label it’s like Arthur Wines and Studio Lost & Found have read my mind when designing it. Pretty vintage ladies with hair worthy of Mad Men and vintage style font, oh my. The Glass Slipper is particularly cheeky, hello stockings, riffing off Cinderella and who doesn’t love that in a label. This time though she’s a bit rebellious, exchanging her slipper for her roller skates as the wine is part of the roller derby collection. Perusing through the Arthur Wines Facebook they certainly seem to like their derby, getting out and supporting the derby girls. Wine doesn’t have to be fancy all the time, sometimes it can be a bit more bold, more rough and tumble. The Glass Slipper works that line between fancy and more rough and tumble beautifully. Tash from Arthur Wines was also very kind in sending a few drink cards AND cards of the label. I am definitely going to get them framed because they are that damn stylish and cool. I’m very lucky that The Lady also shares my love of pretty vintage ladies so I can admire the Glass Slipper and not get in trouble.

Being a fortified wine newbie and a lover of vintage pinup ladies it was almost inevitable that Arthur Wines Glass Slipper was going to be my first taste of this very sweet branch of the wine family. At the end of the day who can say no to a pretty lady? Plus I’ll definitely be keeping a keen eye out on Pinterest for more tasting inspiration, although that could prove fatal for my bank account. Something I’m sure you are all familiar with.

As always remember to like, share, and follow The Cocktail Challenge on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

On The Shelf – Clare Valley Brewing ‘Miss Molly’ Grape Cider

By The Lady

So, The Gentleman and I were strolling through one of my favourite liquor stores Parade Cellars in Norwood when we stumbled upon a beautiful woman. Naturally, I turned to The Gentleman and said “I need this woman in my life!” So, we picked up this beautiful, lovely looking sailor girl off the shelf and took her home. The woman in question is actually Miss Molly – the pinup girl character featured on the label of Clare Valley Brewing Company’s Miss Molly Grape Cider.

Neither of us had ever had a grape cider, so we were curious as to how it would taste. Miss Molly had a very light colour, similar to a white wine. I suppose this is not surprising as it is, in fact, also made with grapes! It is almost like the love child of cider and moscato, so we felt like it would be great for somebody who wanted to start transitioning from cider into wine. Miss Molly was not as sweet as some ciders, a pleasant surprise which resulted in all the fruity flavours being illuminated and enhanced. Miss Molly would be great for an afternoon when you have a hankering for a light drink rather than something rather strong or boozy (an adult kind of pick-me-up!). Alternatively, if you prefer lighter, less alcoholic tasting drinks, Miss Molly would be the drink for you! In the future, perhaps when the weather gets warmer, we would love to use some Miss Molly Grape Cider in some sort of Sangria or another Sunday afternoon-type cocktail.

The label design is simply gorgeous in addition to Miss Molly  being a rather enticing mascot for Clare Valley Brewing Company  while she stares at you, inviting you to have a taste. I love the colour combination of black, white, cream accompanied by the striking red sunset in the background behind Miss Molly as well as her deep red lips. The bottle cap was also a dandy design addition, with their brewery name being shaped into the silhouette of a charging bull. We here at The Cocktail Challenge adore refreshing, thoughtful and creative label design, so we’re looking forward to checking out some of the Clare Valley Brewing Company’s other drinks  which possess similarly dapper labels including their Red Ale, the Bulls Eye Australian Pale Ale, and the King Kong Stout.  All in all, Miss Molly was a lovely Sunday afternoon drink which The Gentleman and I look forward to sampling more of in the future!

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