Jacobs Creek Steingarten Riesling 2006 Tuesday, Jun 17 2008
Tasting Notes and Australia and Eden Valley and Variety and White and riesling
I like it better than the 2005, but not as much as the yet to be released 2007 - which it must be said is an absolute ripper.
It’s has the usual Steingarten finesse with lime, baked apples, cinnamon spice and a wet slate/mineral aspect - fresh and clean but juicy too. In the mouth intense and slatey with strong lime fruit and crystalline acidity - it’s dry but also feels wet and refreshing with a long lemon/lime and spice finish. Showed no signs of tiring over four days in the fridge. A great Eden Valley Riesling.
Rated : 95 Points
Tasted : Jun08
Alcohol : 12.5%
Price : $32
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2008 - 2024
Source : Winery Sample
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22 Responses to “Jacobs Creek Steingarten Riesling 2006”
June 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Just goes to show how popular riesling has become - 17 comments on a cabernet and zero, nothing, not a sausage on this apparantly beautiful thing. The good things, lack of interest means lower prices, I hope, and lots still on the shelves. The bad - maybe they’ll graft it all to Sauv Blerk. Started opening a few 02s - how blessed they be.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
good observation. Have some ’02’s on the shelf myself and waiting for another super vintage.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Too true Andrew. Always an excellent wine and can usually be picked up at DM’s for around $22-23.
The only white to date that I have put away in commemoration of my child’s birth year (’05). Just hope I am still around to enjoy it with her…
June 18th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
So let’s keep the Riesling comments to a minimum Andrew and keep chatting about a 93-point Cabernet - otherwise they’ll put up the price of Riesling!!!!
It’s a cunning plan …
June 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Had this in a Chinese restaurant last week… so dry, it reminded me of a Manzanilla sherry. Just beautiful, bought a case after lunch.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:22 am
After the glorious 2005, I tried a bottle of this recently and was totally unimpressed. Verging on good (79 points), this had no reductive faults, just a very plain, quaffing Riesling without any memorable fruit or structure - vin ordinaire. Will have to try another one and report back.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Gary, might be the wrong place for what might be a dumber than normal question.
Wine fridges - I understand they create a humid environment in which the cork does not deteriorate (just checking - is that correct?). If I want to store screwcaps at an “optimal” temperature (13 - 15 degrees?) could I just use a standard fridge? (Beer fridge becomes wine fridge.) Or, is that likely to lead to problems longer term (say 3 - 5 years) or longer?
thanks
June 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I’m not sure. I think the problem with a normal fridge is vibration but maybe not so much issue with whites. Might be ok. Can you get a fridge to run at 15c? Tyson Stelzers book on cellaring wine is probably the best text. www.winepress.com.au
GW
June 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
many thanks GW, you are a font of knowledge
June 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Great wine. Yet to have a bad experience with JC Steingarten. Found it on special at DM few weeks ago for $19.90/bottle case price…
June 21st, 2008 at 8:12 am
That’s a fine bargain and yes, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one. Leonay and Steingarten would still be my favourite Rieslings I think.
GW
June 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Gota try the 07 for that price too, grand.
re fridge and whites: I also thought guys that the problem with a normal fridge was it isn’t built to avoid swings in temperature? So you could get it to hover at a certain temp but there’s no guarantee it’ll stay constant? Hence problematic for cellaring.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
It is possible to get a normal fridge to run at that sort of temp. The easiest way is to get one of the temperature regulator things from a homebrew shop, you just plug it between the powerpoint and the fridge.
As Z mentions normal fridges swing in temperature a fair amount. If you get one of the temperature things and only store screwcaps (the humidity fluctuates dramatically in normal fridges) then it would be OK (not ideal) for longer term storage. Unless you had a lot of screwcap wines to store, an old fridge you weren’t using and you didn’t mind the higher electricity bills, I would think a dedicated wine fridge cooler, even a cheap one (big W, Kmart etc or discount internet stores have a wide range in the sub $400 range if you look around), would be a better option.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Ahh that’s right, high electricity costs. Might end up being the clincher!
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Yeah it is a nuisance old fridges were built to last (almost) forever but unfortunately they are a reasonable amount more expensive to run than a smaller thermoelectric wine fridge in my experience.
Just to clarify in regards to humidity in fridges (as pe graeme c’s comment above).
Fridges tend to have a reasonably high humidity, but when the condenser kicks in to cool the fridge the humidity can change by 5-10 percent in a short space of time. This is not likely to be to damaging to corks in the short term, but I wouldn’t recommend it for long-term storage. You can do things to compensate a little for this by putting humidifiers in the fridge, and a plethora of other things (using small computer fans to continually move the air etc.) but it is almost more of a hobby exercise converting a fridge into a wine fridge when you look at the effort and cost involved versus the reasonable and cheap winefridges in the market today.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
many thanks for your helpful comments Z and James. The knowledge and ideas here are most helpful, now where is the nearest kmart …
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
No worries. Also James and Graeme I had thought initially about buying a cheapish and small wine cabinet (around the $400 mark) but wasn’t sure about their ability to last. Being a semi environmentalist I thought I’d either save up and get a good one (ie Vintec etc) or store mine commercially. Didn’t feel right getting a little cheap number if it carked it in a year or so. But of course that’s a matter for you Graeme!
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
My opinion on the vintec models
Pros:
look great, have a thick glass door, don’t fog up and have good wooden shelves, cools quickly.
Cons:
Compressor model rather than thermoelectric (IMHO thermoelectric is superior for long-term storage). Much noisier than other wine fridges I am familiar with, just something to be aware of in terms of where you have the fridge.
The cheapy models are variable, but I’ve had a fairly good run particularly with the thermoelectric models (so few moving parts). In hindsight I would have bought a large kitchener cabinet (a 420 or similar), but finances and impatience being as they are I have upgraded a number of times, some of the cheap ones I still have or have given to mates and one of the Dome thermoelectric fridges is over 5 years old and still running, it was only about $200 at a post Christmas sale.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I should note when I say cheapy I don’t mean the Vintec, I’m referring to generic models those are two separate comments that I didn’t separate well.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Just on Vintec. I have some of these and also outsource cellaring (i.e., commercial cellaring). Vintec cabinets are great when it comes to Bordeaux bottles, with respect to stacking, but not so great with Burgundy bottles/Champagne. The latter really restrict the overall capacity. I’ve tried all sorts of cunning arrangements!
I now use my Vintecs as temporary storage (until moving on to commercial cellaring), storage for soon to be drunk wines, or for those bottles I don’t want to let out of my sight!
Of course, room eventually runs out with these wine cellars, so I think, for the oenophiles out there, there are part of the cellaring solution, not the solution. With Vintec etc., buy as big as you can reasonably afford. The empty racks just cry out to be filled!
June 25th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I almost bought a smart looking Vintec one from Harvey Norman or a place like that, believe it or not, en route to Wine Ark with cases in car. It was summer I was getting desperate and $1700 sounded cheap (see summer comment again). Thankfully sense got the better of me & Wine Ark got a new client. I think I would’ve filled up the Vintec cabinet by now, still be paying it off on an interest free deal & shopping for a second. Tho it was the cheapest around, the lady quoted $1700 or so for what I’d seen around for over $2000. this was a S120 or some such size.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
MichaelC agree re the bordeaux/burgundy bottle sizes. I think the S120 (or whatever) was only gonna take 3/4 the capacity if burgundy bottles.