Jacobs Creek 1997 chardonnay .

[New2Winecollecting]

I found this in the cupboard the other day covered in dust. It was quite a golden. I am going to open it I just wanted to know if anyone knew if they could be kept for this long. If there is a chance that it may be good i will save it for a special occasion. It has been tucked down the back of the cupboard i measured the temperature in there the other day at a few different times and it sits at about 16-20 degrees. I guess it would have been in that environment for the last 7-8 years.

[Kieran]

Jacob's Creek chardonnay is made for early drinking. If it's not vinegar yet, it still won't be a great wine but might display an interesting honey/fig/toast character. I suggest that when you open it, keep a backup bottle of something else handy.

Kieran

[Craig(NZ)]

Some of the JC Chardies arent too shabby. dont expect the earth to move but worth a jab

[New2Winecollecting]

opened this on the weekend. Nice drink although may have been a little tainted as a few felt a little queazy after drinking it. Really golden colour almost going through to a shade of orange. So soft and velvetty to drink real soft tannins almost not present at all. Not light though very heavy almost honey like consistency. Leads me to believe it may have een affected. The bottle was never laid down i have since found out and was almost certianly spent its whole life before being consumed by me and my friends. All enjoyed it and i think as we are all reasonably new to ageing wine it can onyl; get better from here on in. I just placed an order for some giaconda chardonnay 05 x6 and also the en primeur 06 x12 hope my allocation gets fufilled as i am only on the mailing list for the first year this year. I have never rated a wine so here goes my first one Jacobs creek chardonnay 1997 89 points .

[Ian S]

opened this on the weekend. Nice drink although may have been a little tainted as a few felt a little queazy after drinking it. Really golden colour almost going through to a shade of orange. So soft and velvetty to drink real soft tannins almost not present at all. Not light though very heavy almost honey like consistency. Leads me to believe it may have een affected. The bottle was never laid down i have since found out and was almost certianly spent its whole life before being consumed by me and my friends. All enjoyed it and i think as we are all reasonably new to ageing wine it can onyl; get better from here on in. I just placed an order for some giaconda chardonnay 05 x6 and also the en primeur 06 x12 hope my allocation gets fufilled as i am only on the mailing list for the first year this year. I have never rated a wine so here goes my first one Jacobs creek chardonnay 1997 89 points .

N2WC
Go for it. Don't get too worried about getting terms "right", but write what works best for you in such a way that will help you recall the wine.
Likewise scores, personally I don't use them (I know I'd never get any sort of accuracy), but use what you want. 100 point scale is an option, but the way (say) Robert Parker uses it, means a compression of points between 80 and 100. By starting at 89 points you might find yourself limited. One of the things you can do, is against each number (or range of numbers) add a written description e.g.
No score: A faulty wine or one that would be unfair to rate
50-60 one that I got no pleasure whatsover from
60-70 A decent drink, but one I wouldn't seek again
70-80 Enjoyable, would be happy to drink this again
80-90 Great enjoyment and I should buy more of this
90-100 Stunning wine, one of the best I've tasted and I should go hunting for more of this wine

Numbers on there own aren't always the easiest to interpret, unless you match them to a set scale, or aim to mark in line with a known benchmark (e.g. Parkers 100 point scale or Broadbents 5 star scale).

Personally I think a five point scale is plenty to start with (no points is valid - the above scale would slot exactly into a star system e.g. 60-70 = 2 stars)

Some thoughts about the wine. I suspect this would be very much over the hill (but even over the hill wines can be drinkable). Grab a copy of a good book on winetasting (Schuster does a good one, but Michael Broadbents one is good and cheap!). It will talk about what to look for in aged wine. As I didn't taste the wine, I can only offer general comments.

White wines generally progress from clear (or a greenish off-clear), through straw, gold, old gold, towards orange and copper and finally brown. These latter two would often indicate an oxidised (or badly over the hill wine). You may hear the term madeirisation, referring to the oxidising of a wine (it refers to the wine Madeira, which is made in a deliverately cooked and oxidised style). I suspect this may be where this wine was going. If you were getting toffee-like smells and some odd smells (e.g. rotting cabbage), then that would be a good indication of madeirisation (and the need to throw the rest down the sink). Honey notes are more promising, albeit for chardonnays, might indicate a wine that is falling away. Spiky acidity is also another warning sign to watch for. You detected no tannins - not too surprising, as these are more usual in red wines. Chardonnays might have drying acidity, but not tannins.

Giaconda's: Best of luck. Certainly one of the top producers in Oz and wines that should age very nicely (up to 10 years IIRC). To do them justice though, and to ensure they age well, you do need to store them well. Ideally at around 12-16C and ideally in the dark. Best option is often to get a small wine fridge (search these pages for comments on the various models). Normal fridges are too cold amongst other issues. If all else fails, keep them stored in the original cardboard box and put shredded paper in to add additional insulation. Store somewhere cool and free from vibration. They might age a bit quicker than ideal, but should still be ok.

I hope this helps and isn't in my usual line of being patronising

Welcome to a very dangerous (for the bank balance) habit!

Ian

[Kieran]

opened this on the weekend. Nice drink although may have been a little tainted as a few felt a little queazy after drinking it. Really golden colour almost going through to a shade of orange. So soft and velvetty to drink real soft tannins almost not present at all. Not light though very heavy almost honey like consistency. Leads me to believe it may have een affected. The bottle was never laid down i have since found out and was almost certianly spent its whole life before being consumed by me and my friends. All enjoyed it and i think as we are all reasonably new to ageing wine it can onyl; get better from here on in. I just placed an order for some giaconda chardonnay 05 x6 and also the en primeur 06 x12 hope my allocation gets fufilled as i am only on the mailing list for the first year this year. I have never rated a wine so here goes my first one Jacobs creek chardonnay 1997 89 points .

Sounds like a best-case scenario for a cheap chardonnay consumed years past its intended drinking window. I don't mind them like that at all.

Quite often, you can get interesting bargains on slightly aged chardonnay at auction - as long as you steer clear of blue chip chardonnays like Giaconda or LEAS you can get some great stuff for well under half retail - I typically get my quaffing chardonnays for about $5-7, usually things that theoretically retailed for $20.

Kieran