The bottle
19 Crimes Snoop Cali Rosé, $ 11.99
The back story
When it comes to all things drink, we have long associated Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. — better known to the world as the rapper, actor and media personality Snoop Dogg — with the combination of gin and juice. But now, Snoop has a new sip — a California-made rosé wine, to be exact.
Actually, Snoop is a key part of a whole new wine label, 19 Crimes, which is the creation of Treasury Wine Estates, a global company with such established brands as Penfolds and Beringer. Through a licensing deal, Treasury brought Snoop aboard. A 19 Crimes Snoop red wine, called (what else?) Snoop Cali Red, was the inaugural bottle with the rapper, released in 2020. The Cali Rosé followed this year.
It should be no surprise to see Snoop going the blush-wine route. Rosé sales have grown of late — consider the buzz phrase, “Rosé all day,” from a few years ago — and are expected to reach $ 3.2 billion by 2022. Other celebrities have already hopped on the pink-wine revolution — from John Malkovich to Jon Bon Jovi.
Snoop told MarketWatch that he was interested in going into the wine business because “not many people like me have gotten involved in the industry. I try my best to show others different worlds that they may have never seen before.” It also doesn’t hurt that he’s become something of a food-world figure of late, particularly through his collaboration with Martha Stewart. “Martha has shown me some of her favorite wines throughout the years, I trust her suggestions,” he said.
But his overall wine philosophy remains a straighforward one: “I enjoy wines that get the party going and set the appropriate mood for the setting.” As for his new rosé, he said he was aiming for “something that was complex, but simple at the same time,” adding that “it’s packed with flavors from berry to cherry, and easy to drink. I love it.”
What we think about it
If you like your rosé to have a dry finish and a certain finesse — in other words, the classic French style from Provence — this is certainly not the bottle for you. But that’s not to say it’s a bad rosé.
As Snoop said, it’s about keeping things fruity and simple. The wine is sweet — think cherry Jolly Rancher candies — but in a way that indeed suggests good times and easy drinking. In other words, an end-of-summer alternative to gin and juice.
How to enjoy it
We’d consider this a standalone wine — its sweetness can make it tougher to pair with food. But Snoop said he does “a little chicken or fish” with his rosé.