Normally I am very “wary” of Barossa “GSM’s” as they are often alcoholic, flabby and jammy;  but from the first sniff this wine had me enthralled. The nose sends no signals of weakness or a lack of ripeness; but the aromas do have a spicy “coolness” and beguiling complexity. There are nuances akin to a northern Rhone shiraz even though the wine only contains 15% shiraz! It also has some complex “fruitcake” and Asian spice character and some intriguing underbrush notes. All of this adds more interest and complexity to the impressive blueberry and raspberry fruit and makes the wine VERY good.

It’s made mostly from old vines, with 80% of the wine coming from 100yo vines. For the record it’s 70% grenache, 15% shiraz and 15% Mataro. Randall Pollard