Jacob's Creek Reserve 2006 Shiraz

There are certain things men will never understand. One of them is The Notebook. And I'll admit, sometimes I don't even understand why the idea of curling up on the sofa under a blanket with a glass of wine and a movie guaranteed to make you cry sounds like the perfect Thursday evening. But it did - this Thursday at least.

This bottle was a very personal choice, so I thought it was the right time to open it. The Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz is the first wine I ever loved. I only had it once: it was my farewell dinner at Dragonfly in Gainesville (sushi seemed appropriate since I was moving to Japan), and a few of us split the shiraz. I've never forgotten it, and a while back, I saw it on sale in the SuperFresh behind school. $8.99 from 12.99. Good excuse to revisit the past.

Wearing neon blue tights and my oldest t-shirt, I plopped on the couch and poured a glass of blast-from-the-past. Just in time for the awkward strip scene in The Notebook where Adams and Gosling are about to consumate their teenage love on the floor of some old house. This had been a good idea, after all.

This South Australian wine is aged in a variety of French and American oak barrels for 18 months. At the end, the product is tasted, and only the best barrels are blended into the Reserve. It scored an 89 on the Wine Spectator scale. I don't know what that means.

Recently, I've found that shiraz is no longer my favorite varietal. So I was a little nervous about this wine - since it was so infused with memories, I didn't want to ruin it by realizing that I don't actually like it anymore. But it was nice. It was smooth up front but had that characteristic punch at the finish that I've found is the reason shiraz has fallen out of favor with me. It was a pleasant punch, though, spicy and not too bitter. I finished the bottle a few days later with Caitlin, and she expertly noted that it was very oaky, which I wouldn't have identified on my own. Also, those few days made a big difference in the texture. It got a lot softer, and thus a lot more enjoyable. I guess it just needed to breathe. In the end, I learned this:

wine + the notebook = catharsis