| Wine | Robert Oatley |
| Variety | Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre |
| Vintage | 2015 |
| Region | McLaren Vale |
| Alc/Vol | 14% |
| Wine Maker | Larry Cherubino |
| RRP | $22.50 |
Wine lovers! Good evening once again; and with the extended winter conditions here in South Australia, I might bring to you one of my last red wine reviews for the year as I make my way onto some whites over the summer period. Tonight under my microscope I have a reasonably priced GSM which was won as part of a home lottery prize.
This Robert Oatley GSM comes to me as a bit of an unknown. I have not come across the wine name, but have found out that they are based out of Eurunderee in New South Wales. They source grapes from a majority of the Australian wine regions and produce a phenomenal amount of wine.
So let’s have a look at the one that comes closest to my home, and see just what it has to offer.
Colour: Ruby red with purple tinge.
Aroma: Plum and cherry from the Shiraz. Sweet raspberry, boysenberry and strawberry musk which is provided by the Grenache. Finally, nuances of gravel and clay enter the glass from the Mourvedre. All the characteristics from each grape varietal come across in the glass, and never in my time of consuming wine has it been as disguisable and prominent as it has in this wine.
Palate: Medium bodied, but still juicy. The character of the wine displays a generously savoury mouth feel and earth tones upfront. However, fruit is not lost as it succumbs around to the Grenache associated characters, which is a display of red fruit. In particular, cherry. The finish is savoury and dry and tails off with bullying fruit and earth elements. The power of Shiraz takes somewhat a backseat on the palate, but I found as I left this wine to breath longer the flavour associated with Shiraz on the palate started to come out as the wine started to develop plum and oak flavours also.
Personal Thoughts: Fantastic value for money wine. In hindsight, this is what you would want from a GSM blend. A majority of these blends can easily become lost in one particular varietal alone, and here in Australia, that varietal is usually more-or-less the Shiraz. However, coming from the McLaren Vale region I personally believe has the climate that is associated with that of the Rhone Valley in France where these grape varietals reign supreme. Although the Barossa Valley produces some of the best single variety Shiraz in the world, I find that Grenache from this region can get lost in sweetness and thus we get a GSM that doesn’t balance out fruit characteristics and those from the earth too. I think if you really want to gain an understanding of a Rhone style blend, then this wine right here holds all the answers on how a GSM should be. This is up there with one of the best GSM blends I have ever come across.
Colour: 19/20
Aroma: 20/20
Palate: 19/20
Texture: 19/20
Length: 18/20
Overall: 95/100
The SA Wine Guy.
