I love red wine. There, I said it. Now, let me share my thoughts on a wine that I was compelled to write about for few reasons. I liked it because of the price, flavour and how well it held up after sitting on my counter for a few days.

Okay - the price. I paid about $12 CDN for this wine which is at the low end of the price range for wine product in western Canada. I think the cheapest wine on the shelf here in B.C. is $8.00. Typically, I don’t get excited about wines at this price point, but lately we’ve been finding winner product that is worth talking about and I am going to review more of them. I am not a wine expert, but I am friends with a number of well known wine experts and wine makers here in the Okanagan valley. I’m sure many would agree this Jacob’s Creek is a decent value. So much so, that if you didn’t know much about wine, you could feel confident taking this wine to a party or adding it to the menu for a party you’ll be hosting to round out your selections while keeping price point down.

One of the things that made me go “hmmmm, this is interesting” is that I had this wine open for more than a few days. Granted, I had it sealed with the Vacuvin system, which does tend to prolong wine life for more expensive (read: better) wines. Typically wines at this price point don’t even last a day or two even with the Vacuvin system. In fact some of these cheaper wines fall apart by the end of the evening if they aren’t consumed by then.

Anyway, the flavor of this product was good, but not great and certainly not excellent. However, I don’t think that you would be disappointed with the flavor profile. Expect to smell some plum jam and fresh blackberries on the nose. On the palette the notes are the same, but you’ll get some dryness and a bit of oak. I think the dryness probably comes from the Cabernet and the softer notes like the plum, probably come from the Shiraz. This particular wine was a 2005, which means its had some time to age and mellow out.

Final conclusions: When you factor in the value equation, a different summary presents itself beyond just basic flavor. This is a product that I think will appeal to large percentage of the casual drinking population, it is a winner in my books for keeping the buzz going later in the night or if you entertain a lot on a budget and don’t want to drink something that tastes like foot soak. In fact, I would say this is a wine worth keeping a case of in the cellar (or under the bed).

Here’s my video review of the wine: