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What are you currently drinking?

A d’Arenberg 2009 The Coppermine Road.

Quite leathery initially. Needs a bit of decanting and still quite young.

Just a few beers at the heavier end tonight:

Testing Instagram embed with a Rockford:

Another Rockford tonight:

Frugal Farmer 2013. Interestingly, this is made with the skins from the Alicante Bouchet (above) and fermented with some Grenache and Mataro.

Question for you Sam. Why is it that you see Grenache in blends (like GSM) more often than just as a straight up drink on its own?

I think it’s more likely found in blends because of the flavour profile of Grenache. It tends to be lighter, red fruit flavoured, and lower tannins compared to Shiraz/Mourvedre (Mataro). Blending Grenache with SM rounds out the flavour profile and evens it on the palate, that’s the basic theory at least.

Would you say that Grenache generally can’t stand on its own? What you described sounds like a lighter end Pinot. GSM is not my favourite thing in the world although I’m not sure why. I have a suspicion it’s the Grenache part but as I know so little about Grenache I can’t say for sure

I would say Grenache could stand on it’s own but might require the right vineyard and winemaker to make it work (there some well known straight Grenaches out there). I haven’t had a Grenache that wows me yet but it could be another one of those varietals that doesn’t work as well as compared to European makes (i.e. Rieslings. Love German Rieslings but haven’t found many Aussie ones that fit my palate).

I think we need to try some Southern Rhone GSMs :wine_glass: :laughing:

A Wynns Black Label Shiraz tonight. Reminding myself how the 2010 tastes in prep for the new vintage releasing soon:

Any regions in Aus which do good GSMs? My experience with them has been completely random so I may be drinking the wrong ones? I am guessing that Southern Rhone is famous for them

Most of the older Grenache and Mataro vines are planted in South Australia, think Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale etc so one would start there. @BrettS gave me a bottle of Teusner Avatar (2012) for my b’day one year and that was one of the better GSMs I’ve had. I’ve also heard good things about Grant Burge Holy Trinity (that’s on my to do list), there’s also The Ironstone Pressings from d’Arenberg, and of course there’s Torbrek The Steading. Those are the big names but I’m sure there’s some smaller wineries that do some interesting GSMs too but can’t say I’ve tried any.

Japanese Curry Rice and a some Xanadu 2010 Cab Sauv:

Surprisingly works well!

Did the cab sav pair positively with the curry or was it neutral? I would have thought the Japanese curry’s sweetness would have unbalanced the cab?

I know it’s not part of assignment but have been craving for something with a tannic edge compared to the pinots we’ve been having

I’m not exactly drinking anything for the assignment tonight either:

Been a while since I’ve had a Hunter red. Loving the earthy notes and acids.

@SammyLee Cabernet side from the Hunter or a different region? The Pepper Tree is particularly on the savoury side. I dig it but actually could use a little more fruit in it to round it out a bit

@petertan Shiraz is Hunter, the 8% Cabernet is from Hilltops.

Random tidbit: Jim Chatto was the Chief Winemaker at Pepper Tree until he moved to McWilliams/Mount Pleasant.

@SammyLee Far out all things are connected aren’t they? Although this Pepper tree is slightly one-note, I find the flavour very interesting and feel like its excellent value. The Chatto’s had very interesting flavours as well (esp. black)

Something a little different tonight:

A VIC Beechworth Shiraz tonight, a bargain buy from Vinomofo deals: