Lisa and I visited Capri Blue this past week for a dinner and a glass of wine. When we arrived we found out that it was half price wine bottle night. We ordered a 2003 Shiraz from the Barossa Valley of Austraila named St. Jakobi. This wine hailed from the Dutschke winery. The wine retailed at the restraunt for approx $64, we paid $32. You can purchase it online currently for $27.
Our Thoughts:
I thought it had a pepper and oaky smell to it. It appeared to have a some legs. I asked lisa what it tasted like and she said “it tastes like good wine.” She also thought it had a hint of honey in the taste. It held a strong yet not complex finish. The wine was a nice purple/lavendar hue. There was a taste of some sort of berry that we could not recognize–a btbnl (berry to be named later). We gave this wine an 8 out of 10, and we would definetly order it again.
Winery Thoughts:
In 1934 my Grandfather, Oscar Semmler purchased the vineyard and grazing property across the road from where he and his brothers grew up. The property is located at Lyndoch in the Barossa Valley, along side of the “St. Jakobi” Lutheran church and school. It is in the St Jakobi Church where my great grandparents, grandparents, parents and now Brenda and myself have all been married.
The Shiraz grapes for “St. Jakobi” come from this family vineyard, from vines planted in 1975 by Oscar’s son Ken Semmler (my uncle).
We’ve been blessed by having “great dirt”, and a vineyard that consistently produces fruit each year that shows elegance, richness in spice, plum and chocolate like characters.
This 2003 “St Jakobi” Shiraz is made using the same techniques I started with back in 1998.
We harvest the vineyard on 2 or sometimes 3 occasions, picking across the flavour spectrum, ferment in open fermenters and age the wine in a combination of both French and American oak hogsheads, purchased from 9 different coopers. This allows me to combine the wines from those better barrels to make a more interesting wine showing the full potential of the Shiraz fruit.
Winemaker: Wayne Dutschke
Vineyard: Ken Semmler’s Lyndoch Vineyard
Region: Lyndoch, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Harvest Date: 27th February and 7th March 2003
Alcohol: 14.5%
Oak Maturaton: 24 months in New and Older French and American Hogsheads
Cellaring potential: 5-8 years
Scores
91 pts, WineSpectator, December 05
88 pts., WineFront Monthly May 2005
92 pts, Tyson Stelzer “Wine Press”
94 pts, James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2007