Wine of the Week: Jacob’s Creek Classic Shiraz
Wine: Jacob's Creek Classic Shiraz
Grape: Shiraz
Region: Southeastern Australia
Vintage: 2013
Price: $4.99
Availability: All retailers, chain stores
In the glass: Jacob's Creek Shiraz wine is a deep purplish-red color with a deeply opaque core going out into a bright purple-fuchsia rim definition with medium viscosity.
On the nose: There is tremendous black fruit concentrate with blackberries, blueberry pie, eucalyptus, violet pastilles, boysenberry sorbet, oak references, candied black currants and hints of phenols and soft black licorice.
On the palate: The wine has great concentration with loads of crushed black fruits, including blackberries, black cherries, cran-grape juice, blueberry sorbet, hints of licorice, minerals and herb-laced meat. The midpalate is well-balanced with fruit, acidity and tannins working in complete harmony, delivering a supple finish that lingers with all pleasant black fruit and licorice flavors.
Odds and ends: Although Jacob's Creek is one of the most popular wine brands in its native Australia, it is in many ways also significant that the company is able to maintain the quality level in every bottle. It would be easy to speculate that when a company of this size achieves international success, it could be tempted to slack off. It is a problem that has plagued many great names in the California wine industry, which is another one of the New World wine-producing areas that has seen stratospheric growth during the past decade. I believe Australia, and in particular, the southeastern part of that country, to have some of the finest New World winegrowing soil outside of France. German Johann Gramp certainly thought so, too, when he planted vines on the banks of Jacob's Creek in the Barossa Valley in 1847, thereby founding this great winery and laying the foundation for today's conglomerate. As a producer of wines, Jacob's Creek has managed to get to a point where it produces quality in quantity and has kept the prices honest in the process. You just can't beat a great little wine like this for less than $5 in a retail store. This is a multidimensional wine that can work with a variety of foods, so experiment away in the meat department. It should drink well for another three years or so, and at this price, you could drink plenty of it, too.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears on Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.
Ravens lineman math whiz, drives used compact car
