19 Crimes 'Hard' Chardonnay 2018

Winemaker Notes
Bold and strong in character, this deep rich and golden Chardonnay is filled with stone fruit aromas and a sweet textured palate. The criminally intense toasty oak notes have hints of butterscotch and honey balanced with layers of ripe fruit. This full bodied, powerful wine finishes with rich notes of butter and vanilla.

Story behind the label: Jane Castings was caught and convicted for receiving stolen goods of cheese and bacon in Leicester, England. She trained and paid a group of teenage boys to steal the goods that she requested. In 1846 Jane left her husband and children behind in Leicester and was transported for seven years to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) aboard the ‘Sea Queen’.

Nineteen crimes turned criminal into colonists. Upon conviction, British rogues, guilty of at least one of the 19 crimes, were sentenced to live in Australia, rather than death. This punishment by 'transportation' began in 1788, and many of the lawless died at sea. For the rough-hewn prisoners who made it to shore, a new world awaited. As pioneers in a frontier penal colony, they forged a new country and new lives, brick by brick. This wine celebrates the rules they broke and the culture they built. It would be a crime not to drink it!