Wine Review: Jacob's Creek 2007 Shiraz

Jacob's Creek is one of the largest exporters of wine in Australia. Since 1847, this well known brand has tended its vines in the Barossa Valley region of south Australia.

Of course, we're concerned about only a handful of things here. Is it easy to find? Is it cheap? Is it good?

Well it's definitely easy to find. I picked up this bottle of Jacob's Creek 2007 Shiraz at my local Wal-Mart. I've seen the brand in pharmacies, wine stores, and grocery stores. You should have no trouble picking it up. And to answer the second question - yes it is cheap. At $7.99, this bottle won't murder your wallet.

This wine entertains the nose with a distinct licorice/anise quality. Plum, cherry and blackberry fruit waft forth along with a whiff of oak.

The taste is a cherry fest, but lacking the fruit overkill of many wines. The structure of this wine doesn't fall apart in the mouth like yesterday's Alice White. It isn't building a house on the palate - not that kind of strength - but it might be building a tool shed up there. Other than the cherry, it constructs its little shed with a nice peppery oak nicely balanced with delicate acid.

3 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Two Yellow Tails for Tuesday!

Yellow Tail is Australia's largest exporter and the number one wine (by volume) imported into the United States. This winery just exploded in the last ten years in the US market. In 2001, 200,000 cases of Yellow Tail were sold in the US. By 2008, that number had reached 8-million. That is a lot of wine!

Given the volume of wine sold under this label, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to explode the content level here and give you all a Two-for-Tuesday! Here they go, the 2009 Shiraz and the auspicious 2008 Reserve Shiraz.

Yellow Tail's Shiraz is up first. This is the exporter's flagship and I would guess the number-one selling red wine in America. Why? Volume, price and marketing. The shiraz/syrah grape makes up 25% of the red harvest in Australia. The brand is able to sell it at a very accessible price of $6.99. Lastly, the non-pretentious, fun, eye-catching yellow label just jumps off the shelf. Not to mention the fact that this label is plastered all over billboards, delivery trucks, and media of all sizes.

But does it live up to all the hype? Well, yes... and no.

The nose gives up a cherry vanilla aroma right away, but holds back on the rest. Maybe I'm just not smelling good tonight because I'm getting more out of this in the sip. There is a strong, perhaps over-oaked quality to the taste. However, other notes do sing through. A bit of black-tea comes in - or maybe I'm just confusing that with the tannins - but I really get a slight tea flavor as well as some fruit. There is strawberry, a bit of blackberry... a pinch or two of prune juice. It has that somewhat oily quality like i just licked a prune. Very interesting. Still, this really is by far NOT the sweetest of the week here in our trip down under. In fact, this wine really has a very bitter mid palate.

There is a little bit of clove in the mix as well. The finish is moderate and departs with a somewhat unsettling green pepper aftertaste.

3 of 5 glasses



Next up, Yellow Tail's Reserve Shiraz...

The reserve, from 2008, rings in a a somewhat heftier $10.99. It has a super dark cherry red color, and exceeds the '09 Shiraz in depth of color and viscosity. This wine has got some legs for a budget bottle.

The nose is a bit like a chocolate cherry - the candy kind. Not fresh out of the box, mind you! Not that somewhat cardboard-like, mass-produced chocolate... okay - maybe the mass produced kind. Imagine someone just bit into a cheap chocolate cherry from a box they picked up at the drug store... then they held it under your nose... that's the smell. That, and a bit of blueberry... a touch of oak... a twist of cracked pepper.

The flavors are interesting. Chocolate comes through quickly, but the blueberry steals the show. There is also a good sampling of blackberry and other dark fruit coming through in the mid palate. This is all accompanied by a bit of vanilla. The tannins are smooth and rounded. It dissipates in a bit of a green apple finish.

I can't say this is more interesting than the '09 Shiraz - but it is certainly better in its execution. The flavors work together. The structure is more coherent. The flavors are less bitter. On the other hand, it's about $4 more... but at $11.99 it's still quite a nice price.

3.5 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Smoking Loon 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Smoking Loon's 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon was my go-to wine for the later part of 2009. When I realized it has been four months since I've had a sip of my old stand-by, I decided it was time to write this up.

Bottled by the Three Loose Screws Napa winery, this $9 Cab fills the glass with a deep, jewel-like hue of purple. The nose is slightly closed, but certainly gives up some blackberry, a bit of currant and some cracked black pepper.

The flavors of blackberry and grape come through clean and delicious, but with little additional complexity. It is balanced (acidity vs. sweetness), though perhaps a little bit astringent.

CONCLUSION:

You're not going to wow anybody with this wine, but you're also unlikely to truly offend them either. The bottom line is that it is just plain hard to find a decent Cabernet in the sub-$10 range. Given the price point of this wine, it's a no-brainer.

3.5 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Trentadue's Petite Sirah

Oh Petite Sirah - how I love thee. Your tiny dark fruit, bunched so tightly... mildew resistant, but prone to rot... but so full of lovely tannins, rich plum color, and general tasty goodness. Face it people, this is a fantastic little grape.

I recently discovered a different wine shop around the area. A Taste of Wine in Miamisburg, Ohio. It's a nice little place with a good selection, classes, tastings, and knowledgeable staff. Anyway, I went in, asked for a petite sirah, and was handed the Trentadue. The owner explained to me that the price had just dropped from the mid $30 range down to $17.99. Now this is getting up there for the rest of us. Generally I try to spend under $15. But it's okay to spend a little bit more every now and then - and that is what I did.

Trentadue's concoction is a lovely dark purple color, with fantastic legs. Mine was slightly cloudy and there was some residual chunkage where the wine crept up and ate a bit of the cork.

Determined to get the most for my money I allowed this bottle to decant for two hours. If you're not familiar with decanting, you should be. Decant your wine. Get a decanter or a pitcher... a bowl... anything that will expose a lot of your wine's surface area to the air. The process really helps to soften some of the bite in the wine and enriches the flavor immensely.

Back to the wine... There is a wonderful bouquet of cherry and blackberry along with some earthy pepper and clove scents. I would also say there is a touch of lavender in the nose. All in all, a delightful aroma.

Even after two hours decanting and some vigorous swirling in the glass, the taste is very very dry. There is a fresh exotic breezy kind of quality, like I'm tasting the sea – in a good way. It is chocolatey. Rich. There is a very woody, rooty, earthy quality. But it is nicely balanced with dark red fruits, some plum flavors and it fills the mouth and excites the palate.

CONCLUSION:

This wine has an incredibly interesting nose and a delicious sip – but at $18, it's a little hard on the wallet.

4.5 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah

Which Petite Sirah snatched Gold at the 2009 Riverside International Wine Competition? Well, there were three: Mettler, Clayhouse and Bogle. But one of these wines is not like the other. At $10.99, Bogle is half the cost of the other two golds. And it is the winner of numerous silver and bronzes. Most importantly, it tastes fantastic - and that is why I want to tell you about it.

This 2007 Petite Sirah is grown in Bogle's 1200 acre Graton California vineyards. The Bogle family has farmed the land since the mid 1800's, but in 1968 it was the father and son team of Warren and Chris Bogle who first planted grapes. And I would like to thank them - forty years later.

Honestly, the first thing I noted was the price - but the bottle artwork is handsome and refined. In the glass, this wine has a very deep, very dark plum color and there a hint of a smoky, haziness detectable when held to the light.

The aromas are moderate, but harmonious. Notes of green tea, pepper and blackberry waft from the glass and fill the nose.

I tasted this wine, swallowed, smiled and whispered "that is fantastic." It really is. The flavors are not incredibly intense, but they grow with each sip as the petite body of this red fills the palate. There is a deliciously butterscotch smoothness in the sip, perhaps a caramel. I also noted a hint of toasted pecan, oak, pepper, and a mild smoke flavor. Tannins come to the party, but play their part well and are only mildly astringent. The finish is a nice lingering 5 seconds.

I found myself craving a smoky, fatty, grilled rosemary lamb-chop, but any hearty red meat would fit the bill. Spaghetti with meatballs would be another possibility.

I really only have one complaint about this wine. It is the first time I have ever spilled a glass of wine, and it's lusciously rich plum hue threatened to forever stain my beige carpet. After a little work I managed to extract the stain. Maybe I should write an article about stain removal.

CONCLUSION

At $10.99 I feel this wine was a true bargain, and with nothing to complain of other than my personal clumsiness, I heartily recommend this wonderful California red.

4.5 of 5 glasses