During one of my past cheap wine finds, I tried Jacob's Creek 2003 Shiraz and I wasn't overly impressed. It was okay, drinkable, but nothing to write home about or blog about though I guess I did blog about it.

So, for the heck of it, I decided to try their Merlot, a 2004 vintage. Much better, thank you! Again, nothing to run out and go crazy over as far as stocking up your wine cellar, but I found overall quality much better, smoother.

Here are wine tasting notes from Pernod Ricard:

Colour: Mid crimson with ruby highlights.

Aroma: Fresh, lifted black cherry and mulberry fruit characters, with subtle spicy overtones and integrated cedary nuances.

Palate: Medium-bodied and largely fruit-driven, with generous and attractive varietal Merlot fruit flavours and a distinctive, nicely rounded and sweet mid-palate, concluding with soft tannins on the finish.

Harvest
Good seasonal rains in the winter preceding the 2004 vintage provided abundant soil moisture, which resulted in good canopy growth. Favourable conditions in spring during fruit set led to better than expected yields. Summer took a while to get going in most districts, but February provided a heat wave, only to be followed by classic autumn weather with mild days and cool nights. This weather produced sound, fully ripened Merlot parcels with excellent concentration of flavour and soft, sweet tannin profiles, perfectly suited to Jacobs Creek Merlot.

Harvest date: Early March to early April 2004.

Winemaking
Berry flavour development and general vine balance and health in individual Merlot vineyards were regularly monitored throughout the ripening period, increasing in frequency until optimal harvest dates were determined. Whole berries were included when crushing, with subsequent fermentation in static fermenters. Gentle yet thorough pump-over regimes were implemented so as to maximise the extraction of desirable colours and sweet mid palate flavours, while maintaining soft tannins typical of the Jacobs Creek style.

Fermentations were generally conducted at moderate temperatures over a period of seven to ten days, in order to capture varietal characters and complexity. Individual parcels were matured separately prior to selection for inclusion in the final blend; those parcels selected were chosen on the basis of attractive varietal flavours and a soft tannin structure with rounded mid palate.

Analysis
Alcohol: 13.7% by volume
pH: 3.42
Total acidity: 6.0g/L