ON Oct 19, Australian wine label 19 Crimes celebrated the taste of redemption at Kwai Chai Hong to mark the arrival of the brand in Malaysia. Unlike typical red wine event where you swirl, sniff, and sip, 19 Crimes showed the wild side of wine by collaborating with participating outlets like Da Bao, Baijiu KL, Concubine bar, and G-String KL to serve party cocktails. Guests to the event could enjoy bar food like chicken wings and mini burgers, with drinks like whisky sours and martinis served in enamel cups with a 19 Crimes Red Blend twist to show how versatile it can be. There were also various other activities and performances in the Chinatown alley.
Participating bars
Located at the back of Kwai Chai Hong, the cheeky G-String KL gin bar is the place for guests to sip their refreshing wine cocktails while listening to the electric guitar riffs of a cover band performing songs by Guns n Roses and Muse. The sexy bar has a cool retro ambiance with 80s TV sets and radios across the wall and lace trimmings and a disco ball on the ceiling. Next door was Da Bao Restobar, known for its big baos with a modern and local twist. Their bar, named Kapitan Haus, is located upstairs and has blue neon lights and lanterns inside. The bar pays tribute to the historical Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, credited with the original foundation of the city.
At small and quaint oriental inspired-bar Baijiu, guests could enjoy delicious dim sum and creative cocktails made with Baijiu, bringing the old-world vibes back to KL Chinatown with a mix of modern Oriental flavours. Last but not least, Concubine bar is loaded with exposed bricks and wooden panel floors with a butterfly motif, keeping it flirtatious and funky while keeping up with Chinatown’s heritage. A DJ plays in Concubine bar with walls painted beautifully with mural paintings of women in traditional cheongsam.
A rebellious wine
19 Crimes wines was named after the rebellious spirit of the more than 160,000 exiled men and women, the rule breakers and law defying citizens that forged a new culture and national spirit in Australia. In 18th-century Britain, criminals guilty of at least one of 19 crimes, were sentenced to “punishment by transportation”, exiling them to live in Australia, rather than death. On the 19 Crimes wine bottles, they feature actual mug shots of the criminals who were sent to Australia, and those 19 crimes had turned convicts into colonists. 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. Each of the wines pays homage to one of the convicts and tells their story.
Listed among the 19 crimes, was “cutting or burning clothes”, so the Halloween event had an activity for guests to spray paint a T-shirt they could take home. One of the brand’s ambassadors is renowned rap icon Snoop Dogg, who joined forces with 19 Crimes to create the first Californian wine in the portfolio, a unique red blend with ripe, punchy fruit from the Petite Sirah, complemented by bright, slightly-candied, red fruit from the Zinfandel. In a press statement, Snoop Dogg said: “I’m such a fan of this wine and I’m excited to bring ‘Snoop Cali Red’ to my Malaysian peeps this year and share the experience with my fans.”
The press statement also had Kjetil Undhjem, Treasury Wine Estates Chief Marketing Officer, adding that like Snoop Dogg, 19 Crimes is defiant by nature, bold in character and always uncompromising. The 19 Crimes Cali Red was recently announced as #4 in Drinks International’s ‘The World’s Most Admired Wine Brands 2020’, became the number one new wine item launched in the US in 2020, and was voted the #1 New Wine Innovation of all time in 2021.
19 Crimes is available exclusively at Jaya Grocer.