GSM ‘Plexus’ John Duval 2021

GSM stsands for Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre (the latter sometimes called Mataro in Australia).

This wine has deep colour, intense aromas and flavours of red and black fruit, herbs and floral notes. It is medium-bodied with smooth fine tannins (it has spent 14 months in oak), the finish is long and spicy.

It needs big food – a beef casserole, or an aubergine bake, and I recommend it with an aged Gouda.

John Duval was the second winemaker entrusted with the famed Grange at Penfolds.  This was his first wine made under his own name after finishing at Penfolds in 2003. He sources fruit from long-time friends in the Barossa, all of whom own vineyards with vines aged from 50 to 100 years old.  We tasted his wines with his son, Tim, during our day in the Barossa Valley during our 2019 Australian tours.