Before drinking it, I did a bit of research on Jacob's creek. They are located in the Barossa valley, which I was surprised by. The bottle only says "South Eastern Australia". I would think the Barossa Valley would be a huge selling point.
In my last few posts I have talked about the Mclaren Vale, and the Coonawarra region in South Australia-the regions that I am most biased too, and are also world renowned for making excellent wines. This post I wanted to mention The Barossa Valley. The Barossa Valley is located on the northern end of a section of wine country that produces excellent wine. On the south end, is the Mclaren Vale. Adelaide Hills, and the Eden Valley are located in the middle and to the east. As I mentioned before, this larger area of South Australia-including the Mclaren Vale, and Barossa Valley- produce some excellent wines but it is important to note their size differences. The Coonawarra region is the smallest region by comparison and therefore the wines coming from the Coonawarra tend to be more rare and valuable. All three regions are good. And this is not to say that you cannot find a bottle of Coonawarra for $30, its really a matter of taste, but just as a general rule, bottles from the Coonawarra are more valuable than the Mclaren Vale, and Barossa Valley.
Back to Jacob's Creek- I also learned that Jacob's creek is a commercial winery. Take that as you want, but generally speaking it isn't a positive thing, especially with such a cheap bottle. I am sure their super premium wines are good, but this bottle of run of the mill wine tends to be like yellow tail: mass produced, and low quality. In thinking about the label on the bottle that said "South Eastern Australia" instead of Barossa Valley: since Jacob's Creek is a commercial wine company, it would mean that this bottle is probably targeted towards the North American market. Their target demographic would be wine novices that don't know much about good or bad wine. The average wine novice walking into a liquor store wouldn't know where Barossa Valley is, but would probably recognize "South Eastern Australia" more readily. Commercial marketing at its finest.
As far as actually drinking the wine, I am 50/50 on it. It had some nice qualities, and some bad ones. Overall I would say that the wine seems a bit unrefined and harsh. It is a medium bodied wine, and the flavor is decent. The fruit flavor is pretty good. The tannins are quite strong, I found, even thought the bottle claims that the tannins are at a medium level. Strong bitterness with quite a grippy feeling following a drink. As mentioned before, I'm a wine drinker that needs a good sweeter tasting wine, too much tannins are not my cup of tea (or glass of wine...)
Overall, this wine is decent enough to buy on a whim. Say, when you are heading out to a party that has people who don't know much about wine. However, as far as buying it continuously as a favorite, or to save and cellar (not recommended) I would recommend that you spend a bit more on a SA red that is of a higher quality, say from an independent, privately owned winery.
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