While grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre have long been blending partners in France’s Southern Rhône region, ‘GSM’ blends as we know them are a quintessentially Australian invention. A success story of the late 80s and early 90s, Australia’s GSM blends came about via necessity – but spoke to a wine market looking for new-world takes on old-world traditions. As a new generation of winemakers rediscovers and reinterprets the Australian tradition of blended red wines, the well-known GSM blend is starting to demand reconsideration – which is why we felt a Deep Dive into the subject was in order.
We gathered every Australian blend of grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre we could find – regardless of which names were used for the varieties, and regardless of order on the label – and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines. Below are the wines that made the panellists’ top-six selections from the tasting.
Our panel: Courtney Keegan, wine merchant and Women in Drinks state lead (Victoria), Dan Murphy’s; Ciarán Hudson, winemaker, Beyond the Glass; Masahiko Iga, head sommelier, Victoria Racing Club; James Scarcebrook, winemaker, Vino Intrepido; Peter Sherwood, head of wine buying, Vinomofo; Michael Lillis, sommelier, Wandilla Gippsland.
The top wines
2023 Ravensworth Shiraz Grenache Mourvèdre, Canberra District $32 RRP
Selected in the top six wines of the blind tasting by Keegan, Lillis, Hudson and Scarcebrook. Keegan described this as “a cool wine” that opened with a “striking floral bouquet” – all geranium, violet and mulberry – carried on a delicate but energetic frame. She found “crunchy Black Amber plum, fresh blackberries and cinnamon bark” dancing on sculpted tannins. “Love seeing the harmony in this GSM,” she said. Lillis was equally drawn in: “The nose is what attracted me at first,” he said, singling out “dark raspberry laced with liqueur cherries and just a hint of freshly-turned soil.” The palate offered “supple minerality” and a “cleansing acidity,” finishing dry and spicy, “courtesy of the grenache.” Hudson noted the “reasonably oak-y nose” and “fine, gentle tannins” – potentially a stem or oak component – alongside grenache markers of “plush red fruits and herbes de Provence.” He praised the “mouthwatering, aromatic finish” and “driving, lengthy acidity.” For Scarcebrook, this wine “really stands out from the rest,” thanks to its “spicy orange red fruits,” amaro-like lift, “blood orange and bitter almond,” and “great length and crunchiness.” He summed it up as “light, bright and focused … with plenty of personality and drinkability.”
2022 John Duval Wines ‘Plexus’ GSM, Barossa Valley $45 RRP
Selected in the top six wines of the blind tasting by Hudson, Iga and Scarcebrook. Hudson was struck by its “pretty pink front-palate” of strawberries and currants, with “a little savouriness from thyme, marjoram and oregano,” and “gentle, mouth-coating tannins” adding warmth. Iga praised its “generous core of ripe fruit” – blackberries and dark plums – framed by “fresh sage, rosemary, and mint,” with “gentle black pepper and soft vanilla.” He found the balance between “volume and length” compelling, calling it a wine that “combines power with freshness.” He’d love it with Korean-style bulgogi: “The slight sweetness, spice, and garlic in the dish would beautifully echo the wine’s juiciness and lively energy.” Scarcebrook noted the bold aromatics – “almost whiskey-like smoky sweet oak,” blackcurrant and blood plums – and admired its generosity: “It’s everything you’d want in a gluggable, generous, and bold – but not overly heavy or tannic – example of GSM.”
Selected as a top six wine in the blind tasting by Hudson. Hudson picked this as one of his top wines of the blind tasting, describing it as “a true rendition of an Aussie GSM” with “generous fruit ripeness.” He saw grenache leading the way, with “signature strawberry and herbed orange peel,” while shiraz brought “light green peppery spice bordering on eucalyptus” and darker fruits like blueberry and plum. Mourvèdre chimed in with blackberry depth. “Very moreish and balanced – not shy, but not massive,” he said. “A modern take on Aussie GSM with a fruit freshness and balanced alcohols that shows how far the category has come in the last decade. Impressive.”
2021 Charles Melton ‘Nine Popes’, Barossa Valley $107 RRP
Sherwood nominated this wine – which kicked off the GSM trend in Australia – among his top six of the blind tasting. “This is a more serious, somewhat thinky iteration of what is fast becoming Australia’s favourite blend,” said Sherwood, who praised the way this GSM “well and truly heroed” the grenache. “It sits right at the fore, showing wild berries and slightly underripe strawberries, with blueberries in play, too.” He noted how the blending varieties “play a downstage role, offering weight and mid-palate body – but grenache is the star.” Calling it “sophisticated and stylish, yet playful,” Sherwood found this wine to be “in perfect balance” and “a lot on offer as it’s allowed to stretch its legs in the glass.”
2021 Grant Burge ‘Abednego’ Mourvèdre Grenache Shiraz, Barossa Valley $105 RRP
Chosen as a top six wine in the blind tasting by Keegan and Sherwood. Keegan was drawn to the lift and elegance of this wine: “Bright on the nose! This wine unfurls with delicate violets, potpourri, and a warming touch of cedar.” She highlighted the “chewy tannins” and “fleshy black plum and elderberry” on the palate, noting how “subtle notes of nutmeg and vanilla” brought harmony. “This would take well to a chill,” she added. Sherwood also selected it as a standout, calling it “more premium” in feel, with oak that was “more overt, but not unwelcome.” He likened the bouquet to “French pastries,” with vanilla alongside cherries and blueberries, while also praising its “mulberry, ripe blackberry, nettle, and sweet-sour cola” character. “Aromatically expressive … it comes bounding out of the glass and licks you in the face,” he said. “Well-composed and purposeful.”
2023 Torbreck ‘The Steading’, Barossa Valley $45 RRP
Scarcebrook named this among his top six picks of the blind tasting. He described this as “certainly one of the most elegant of the day,” with “refined dark fruits of blackberries and macerated strawberries” supported by “very assured aromatics showing nutmeg and desiccated coconut.” For him, the wine’s appeal lay in its balance of depth and restraint: “It builds on the palate and finishes fresh and vibrant with great depth of flavour and structure, filling the mouth without being cloying.” He saw the touch of a deft hand here: “This wine is great now, and will evolve beautifully in the bottle.”
2022 JC’s Own ‘Rockit’ Grenache Shiraz Mataro, Barossa Valley $50 RRP
Iga selected this in his top six wines from the blind tasting, calling it “a graceful, vibrant wine.” He noted the seamless blend of “raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, with hints of pomegranate and peach,” capturing “the essence of what a great GSM should be.” There’s a crushed-berry freshness, a floral lift “like violets,” bright minerality, black pepper spice, and “just a whisper of herbs.” He speculated that amphora might contribute to the wine’s purity and energy: “The fruit is delicious, the acidity and texture are gently woven, and the wine feels energising and joyful.” His food pairing ideas were equally joyful – “a Japanese-style steak with fresh daikon and ponzu,” or “a slow-cooked ragù.” Ultimately: “A wine that’s beautifully balanced, brings joy, and stirs the heart – the kind you’d open with someone special.”
Hudson picked this out as a top six wine in the blind tasting for its gentle, supple expression of the style. “Chinese five-spice, blueberry and strawberry,” he noted, with “supple fruit that hasn’t been over-extracted.” He suggested the winemaking likely included lots of air during fermentation, which tempered the GSM’s sometimes heavy body and let grenache’s perfume shine. “Pretty and bright,” he said, “with moreish acidity,” and a gentle mouthfeel that builds warmth: “Nice length of herbaceous orange peel and a lick of fresh, damp chewing tobacco. This wine finds your gums and warms them, gently coating the mouth.”
2017 Quarry Hill ‘West Block’ Shiraz Grenache Mourvèdre, Canberra District $40 RRP
Lillis named this as one of his six top wines in the blind tasting, appreciating its translucent cherry hue and vibrant aromatics. “The scent of pomegranate and strawberries hold together the dark red cherry tannins that fill the mouth while it flows across the palate,” he said. He praised its juicy, tight-knit structure and lingering cherry finish, suggesting it’s ideal “for a warm summer’s day.” His serving tip: give it a light chill “just enough to enhance the flavours,” and pour it with “a simple selection of hard cheeses.”
2018 Pimpernel Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre, Yarra Valley $55 RRP
Sherwood was intrigued by this wine in the blind tasting, calling it “slightly outside the box” and suspecting some age in bottle. “The fruit has developed into the riper spectrum of plums, rich raspberry, and kirsch,” he said, while “nettles, cola, and a lick of aniseed” added further dimension. “Those herbal and fruit profiles are in sync, and they ride a wave of ripping acidity through to a long finish.” He saw depth and ageability here, calling it “GSM for an occasion,” with the structure to pair with “roast lamb, rib-eye, ragù …” and a graceful future still ahead. “It’s proof that GSM has ageability, even at relatively lower alcohol levels – fruit presence and acid have ensured long life here.”
Both Iga and Sherwood ranked this wine – named after the Spanish for ‘together’ – in their top picks of the blind tasting, celebrating its aromatic brightness and textural finesse. Iga described “raspberry, red cherry, and pomegranate,” with floral lift, fresh herbs and citrus zest – “perhaps a subtle signature of whole bunch fermentation.” He praised the “sleek and refreshing” texture and soft minerality: “Stylish, fragrant, and delightfully poised.” Sherwood was equally effusive: “Freshness and peppy acidity with length for days.” He noted “raspberries and blueberries, some candied berry, purple and pink flowers all in perfect step,” adding that the “bristly and excitable” acidity drove a long, resonant finish. “I love this wine for its unashamed celebration of grenache,” he said, and the subtle role of shiraz and mourvèdre “to offer nuance and complexity.”
Scarcebrook selected this in his top six wines of the day for its structural elegance and long-term potential. “Quite different,” he said, “very ligneous and savoury, with aromas of rosemary and marjoram, dried roses and violets.” He described it as tight and lean – “dare I suggest a cooler-climate expression?” – and found the style much more savoury than others on the day. “Wild blackberries and sour plum matched with elegant oak complexity … Dense and dry, has lots of cellaring potential – at least ten years.” While he acknowledged it may not be the most obvious ‘drink-now’ option, “if you were to open a bottle, it’s one that you could absolutely enjoy with a good steak.”
2021 Kaesler ‘Avignon’ Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre, Barossa Valley $60 RRP
Iga highlighted this in his top six wines of the blind tasting for its elegance and composure. “Layers of ripe plum, red berries, blackberry, cherry, and blackcurrant unfold gently,” he said, “accented by tea leaf, soft eucalyptus, and savoury herbs.” He praised the aroma’s refinement and the palate’s soft sweetness and silky tannins: “flowing like fine juice.” Despite its generosity, he described the wine as “light-footed yet complex,” and recommended pairing it with delicately flavoured meats – “veal carpaccio with tonnato sauce.” His verdict: “Elegant, nuanced, and gracefully composed – a GSM with both detail and harmony.”
2021 In Praise of Shadows ‘L’Ombre’ Grenache Mataro Shiraz, McLaren Vale $30 RRP
Keegan was struck by the artistry of this wine during the blind tasting, calling it “pretty cerebral, like a piano solo.” She described it as “bursting with floral notes of rose, hydrangea and violets,” giving way to hints of cedar and nutmeg. On the palate, she found it “ethereal,” with “crunchy Satsuma red plums, fresh blackberries, and a lick of dried herbs and clove spice.” A contemplative wine, delicate and pretty – “to enjoy with some aged cheddar … and maybe while listening to some classical piano.”
2024 Stage Door Wine Co. Grenache Shiraz Mataro, Barossa Valley $30 RRP
Both Hudson and Scarcebrook picked this wine among their top choices in the blind tasting, appreciating its bright, aromatic profile and lighter frame. Hudson described “lemon thyme and fennel alongside a gamey, unctuous meaty note of lamb,” with the palate showing “bright, ripe shiraz characteristics like blueberry, bramble and nettle,” all lifted by “an orange peel note on the finish.” For Scarcebrook, “vibrant violet and lavender floral aromatics” were joined by “a meaty note of dried bresaola – earthy and a bit mushroomy.” He praised its juicy freshness, “light in body – a really delicious and smashable example of the lighter style of GSM,” with notes of “red cherries and salted caramel, dried coriander … lots of flavours here, but not overwhelmingly heavy or alcoholic.”
Lillis singled this wine out in his top six wines of the blind tasting for its irresistible drinkability. “It was a little different to the other GSMs,” he said. “I think all three grape varieties are working together, bringing their individual fruit highlights.” The nose, he noted, was “awash with semi-ripe Damson plum,” likely from the shiraz, while “grenache fills the mouth with fleshy flavours of just ripe red cherry and delivers mouth-watering light acid.” Mourvèdre brought “a fragrant meaty/dried raspberry leaf note” that lingered on the finish. “This wine shows proof that when individual components come together, they create something much greater.” His ideal pairing? “BBQ lamb chops, slightly charred around the edges.”
2022 Lark Hill ‘Hudson Vineyard’ GSM, Hilltops $35 RRP
Both Keegan and Lillis selected this in their top six wines of blind tasting for its intrigue and complexity. Keegan called it “one of the more curious wines – it piqued my interest,” noting its “brickish red hue with subtle blood plums, tart cranberry, cinnamon bark, and a little cigar box on the nose.” She found the palate “cool, gravelly,” with more of that cranberry and pomegranate, tied together by “a glorious wash of leather.” Lillis echoed the fruit vibrancy, saying the wine “comes alive with plush, juicy strawberry flavours with whispers of redcurrant,” with the sweet pomegranate note carrying through. “The highlight for me,” he added, “is the density of fruit with its freshness… wonderfully long, soft tannins.” He suggested enjoying it lightly chilled, with a Thai chicken curry. Keegan imagined it by “an open fire – for the adventurous.”
Sherwood chose this in his top six wines of the blind tasting for its sheer drinkability, noting how it “highlights its grenache component wonderfully, but uses the blending varieties to offer generosity and that characteristic ‘knockabout’ nature of GSM.” He found “raspberries, beautiful high-toned violets, wild berries, berry coulis, and red candy” on the nose, with a palate that’s “bouncy, bright, shapely in the mouth, and almost elastic in mouthfeel.” In short: “a crowd-pleaser … the kind of unfussy wine I can see myself enjoying out of a styrofoam cup. Bright, peppy, and absolutely humming. Yum.”
2022 Varney Wines GSM, McLaren Vale $35 RRP
Scarcebrook picked this in his top six wines of the blind tasting for its depth and polish. He described “deeper, more concentrated dark fruits – cassis and blueberries – with serious floral notes of violets and jasmine.” While “the juicy dark fruit character is not overt,” there’s “a very subtle meaty note of braised beef in rich jus.” He appreciated the balance: “warm on the back end, soft and plush but not broad or heavy.” A bold, confident GSM that, in his words, “puts hair on your chest – absolutely showing what a great example of warm-climate Australian GSM should look like.”
2022 Elderton GSM, Barossa Valley $36 RRP
Lillis chose this in his top six wines of the blind tasting. He noted its “deep rich mulberry colour in the glass,” with matching aromas and “plush raspberry and strawberry fruit” backed by “subtle white pepper spice.” He described the wine as “palatable and smooth… balanced tannins, medium acidity,” and “very easy acidity that doesn’t overpower the mouth.” Ideal, he said, with a charcuterie board and cheddar.
Selecting this in his top six wines, Sherwood celebrated this in the blind tasting as “a celebration of fruit” – calling out “cranberry, cassis, winter strawberry, raspberry (and on and on …),” with “a well-deployed oak overture.” He found the blend led by grenache, with shiraz and mourvèdre “ushering it along” to give body and drive without domination. His final verdict? “Friendly and approachable … nails the ‘knockabout’ brief. It doesn’t skimp on complexity – there’s plenty going on if you go looking – but neither does it demand that you unpack it. It’s easy-drinking, good-time wine.”
2023 Arila Gardens ‘Moppa’ GSM, Barossa Valley $45 RRP
Keegan was drawn to this wine during the blind tasting for its vivid aromatics and wide appeal. “Nasturtiums, blackcurrant, black plums, and fresh blackberries” led the bouquet, “lifted by a hint of cardamom spice.” The palate echoed the fruit “generously, with layers of dried herbs and a touch of nutmeg giving an overall bright and smart-looking wine.” Her conclusion? “This is an ‘appealing to everybody’ kind of wine,” she said, perfect with “some BBQ pork ribs.”
2023 Grounded Cru GSM, McLaren Vale $30 RRP
Hudson and Iga both selected this their top six wines in the blind tasting for its vibrancy and balance. Hudson praised the “watermelon and a berry family reunion: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries,” alongside “a bit of bramble character and generous spice” driven by bright acidity. Szechuan peppercorn and redcurrant defined the lengthy finish. He saw it as a modern GSM for a new generation: “This would sit well next to a pâté-heavy bánh mì, beef bulgogi, teriyaki beef – even root veg–driven plant-based meals.” Iga was equally won over, calling it “delicately perfumed and beautifully balanced,” with “blueberry, plum, and fresh cherry radiating with juicy charm.” He admired the wine’s “refined mineral tension” and seamless blend. “Elegant, understated, and just plain delicious,” he said, suggesting a cheese and charcuterie spread to let the wine shine.
2022 Paisley ‘Turntable’ GSM, Barossa Valley $25 RRP
Iga selected this in his top six wines of the blind tasting for its richness and quiet depth. “A characterful GSM that captures the warmth and generosity of the Australian land – robust, grounded, and beautifully composed,” he said. The palate “bursts with ripe black fruits – plum, blackberry, cassis – wrapped in creamy oak and lifted by clean acidity.” He found balance between warmth and freshness, with layers of spice, earth, and subtle herbs. “This feels like a wine crafted with care, experience, and perhaps even a touch of affection,” he said. “Pour it as the centrepiece of a multi-course dinner – ideally shared with good friends at the moment the main dish is served.”
Lillis named this wine in his top picks from the blind tasting, drawn to its freshness and spice. He noted “bright red cherry fruit on the nose, punctuated with spicy notes of cinnamon and possibly dried muscatel.” On the palate, he found an “old-world” style, with “white pepper and cherry spice on the finish” and smooth tannins that washed the palate clean. “The fruit freshness was the highlight,” he said, suggesting it with “pan-fried lamb cutlets on a bed of creamy mash – keep the food simple and let the wine’s flavours shine.”
2022 Peter Lehmann ‘Portrait’ Grenache Shiraz Mataro, Barossa Valley $20 RRP
Keegan selected this wine in her top six wines of the blind tasting for its perfume and finesse. She described it as “intensely perfumed with lovely violet and lavender,” with “blueberries and blackberries underpinned by a slate-y minerality that adds lift and elegance.” On the palate, she found “striking tension,” as juicy fruit met mouth-watering acidity and grippy tannins. “It’s vibrant and balanced, highlighting the diversity of Australian GSM,” she said, “while still giving that generous fruit character and lifted spice we so often associate with the category.”
The backstory
While grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre have long been blending partners in France’s Southern Rhône region, ‘GSM’ blends as we know them are a quintessentially Australian invention. A success story of the late 80s and early 90s, Australia’s GSM blends came about via necessity – but spoke to a wine market looking for new-world takes on old0-world traditions. As a new generation of winemakers rediscovers and reinterprets the Australian tradition of blended red wines, the well-known GSM blend is starting to demand reconsideration.
The combination of grenache, shiraz (also known as syrah) and mourvèdre (also known as mataro or monastrell) originates in the warm-climate Southern Rhône region of France, although none of these varieties originally hails from this region. Shiraz likely emerged to the north of the Rhône, in the mountainous Isère region of France; while both grenache and mourvèdre likely emerged in Spain (in the regions of Aragón and Valencia, respectively). Both grenache and mourvèdre have been in France for some time, though, with the former arriving in the fourteenth century, and the latter arriving in the sixteenth.
Opposite: Shiraz grapes on the vine at Langmeil’s Freedom vineyard, planted in 1843. Above: Cirillo’s old-vine grenache, planted in 1848.
All three varieties arrived simultaneously in Australia in the 1830s as part of the Busby Collection of vines – not the first importation of grapevines into this country, but historically the most important. Material from the Busby Collection was swiftly propagated around the country, forming the basis for what are now believed to be the oldest extant plantings of all three varieties in the world: the 1843 Freedom Vineyard for shiraz, the 1848 Cirillo vineyard for grenache, and the 1853 Old Garden vineyard for mourvèdre, all located within the Barossa Valley.
Despite this lengthy history of parallel cultivation, the Australian GSM blend as we now know it is a relatively recent phenomenon, emerging only in the 1990s. Why it took so long for Australian winemakers to bring this trio of varieties together is a story that takes in some of the lowest moments of Australian wine history, as well as some of the biggest movements in the global wine story of the 20th century.
A holy trinity
The wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Southern Rhône region of France have a particular historical significance, and one closely connected to Catholicism. In 1309 – around the same time that grenache vines first arrived into France from Spain – the recently-elected Pope, Clement V, moved the entire Papal court and its functions to Avignon in the Southern Rhône, as a response to a political schism between the church and the King Philip IV of France. Clement V’s successor, John XXII, set up a summer residence in the châteauneuf (‘new castle’) that gave the hamlet of Châteauneuf, twenty kilometres to the north of Avignon, its name. John XXII also decreed that the wines produced in the region around Châteauneuf would be considered the vin du pape (‘Pope’s wine’).
Above: vineyards in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with the ruins of the ‘new castle’ (now quite old) visible in the background.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine as we know it is a much later creation than this papal association would suggest, though. The grape louse phylloxera was first identified in France at Roquemaure, directly across the Rhône river from Châteauneuf, in 1865 – and it went on to decimate Châteauneuf’s vineyards starting in 1866. (By this time all three of the world’s oldest vineyards of grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre had been planted in the Barossa.) Recovery from phylloxera only commenced in the late 1870s and 1880s, and involved wholesale replanting of Châteaneuf’s vineyards on American rootstocks, completely reconfiguring not only which varieties were planted in the region, but also how they were grown. Not long afterwards in 1893, the village added the appendage ‘-du-Pape’ to its name – an early example of regional wine marketing in action. (In a similarly canny publicity-generating move, Châteauneuf-du-Pape passed a law in 1954 prohibiting UFOs – known in French as cigares volants, or ‘flying cigars’ – from flying over the town.)
Importantly, Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s wines were the first in France to be governed by an appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC)– a system of regulations designed to protect the region’s wine from both external imposters and low-quality producers within the region. The Châteauneuf AOC came into effect in 1936, and formed the model on which all of France’s AOCs – and therefore most of the rest of the wine world’s appellations – would be based. These regulations specified a list of thirteen grape varieties that could be used in the production of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which included grenache, syrah and mourvèdre amongst others (including cinsault, counoise, and picpoul noir). Importantly, though, these regulations did not and still do not prescribe any set combination of varieties, and does not distinguish between principal varieties and accessory varieties – meaning that a 100% syrah wine that meets all of the other appellation rules can be labelled as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, just as a 100% counoise wine could also bear that label. In practice, though, nearly all red Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines contain a mixture of different varieties, predominantly grenache.
Opposite: A cartoon from Punch, 1890: “The phylloxera, a true gourmet, finds out the best vineyards and attaches itself to the best wines.” Above: Bonny Doon’s ‘Le Cigare Volant’ – a wine named in homage to Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s infamous 1954 law banning UFOs.
While the AOC system bolstered Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s quality and reputation within France, the Rhône region more broadly played second fiddle to France’s more prestigious Bordeaux and Burgundy regions until the mid-1980s, when the American wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. discovered the region and its wines – and shared his findings with the readers of his influential Wine Advocate publication. This lead to a worldwide late-’80s and early ’90s vogue for Rhône wines, including Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with a corresponding price hike amongst the region’s best properties. Château Rayas, which makes elegant Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines solely from grenache, is now one of the world’s most highly sought-after wines – with prices to match.
Counting to nine
Just as the Rhône was experiencing its first flush of modern wine celebrity in the mid-’80s, the Barossa was in something of a slump. In response to an excess of ‘unprofitable’ and ‘unproductive’ red-wine vineyards across the state, in 1985 the South Australian government instituted a vine-pull scheme, which reimbursed growers who chose to uproot their vines. Many of the vineyards that were uprooted under the scheme were precious old vines – especially grenache, but also shiraz and mourvèdre. Other growers grafted over these vines to chardonnay in response to market demand for white wines.
Opposite: Graeme ‘Charlie’ Melton and wife Virginia Weckert at their winery, Charles Melton, in the 1990s. Above: The current cellar door at D'Arenberg – a winery Melton credits as a predecessor in making Australian grenache-blend wines.
“In the mid-’80s, the industry in Australia – not just in the Barossa, but probably particularly in the Barossa – it wasn’t in great shape,” says Barossa vigneron Graeme ‘Charlie’ Melton of Charles Melton, who founded his Barossa winery in 1984. “Certainly grenache, as far as table wines are concerned, was an unloved child … people just didn’t equate grenache with quality wine.” While Melton points out that other winemakers were producing quality grenache-based wines at the time – particularly Chester Osborn at D’Arenberg – he notes that these were labeled only as ‘dry red’. Melton’s own estate grenache fruit, from a parcel planted in 1943, located behind the old Krondorf village church, went into the base wine for what he then called his ‘sparkling Burgundy’ – until a phone call clued him in on the potential for this fruit.
“I got a telephone call from a bloke called John Stanford, who used to be the wine writer at The Australian [and] also a qualified wine maker,” says Melton. “He was after cuttings off the grenache behind the church on Krondorf Rd, because he thought it was some of the best grenache in the Barossa … I thought, ‘Well, if he thinks it’s the best, we’d better have a look at it.’” After a test batch of table wine from the parcel in 1987 proved to be “lovely”, Melton committed to a changed course for this fruit from the 1988 vintage onwards. He blended it with a small portion of shiraz – made from fruit purchased from Maggie and Colin Beer’s Barossa vineyard – and found the resulting wine to be “cracking … a really lovely drink.” Melton had what he knew was a great wine – now he only had to solve the problem of how to label it.
“We weren’t going to put out a wine in 1988 called ‘Barossa grenache shiraz’. People would have fallen over with with indifference, to be honest.”
“We weren’t going to put out a wine in 1988 called ‘Barossa grenache shiraz’,” Melton recalls. “People would have fallen over with with indifference, to be honest. So we had to make that connection back to world-class grenache-based wines.” At the time, this meant looking to the Southern Rhône: “If you were looking for leading lights in the grenache-based wine business, you were talking Château Rayas, Château de Beaucastel, Vieux Télégraphe – all the usual suspects,” Melton says. “I had done my Alliance Français course, because I was making my first trip to France, and I’d learned to count in French – un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix. And I thought, ‘Oh, Châteauneuf-du-Pape! That’s what it means: Castle of the Nine Popes’.” The name Melton chose for his wine may have been based on a misunderstanding of the original French, but it was striking – and it gave the wine just enough old-world cachet to catch on in a big way.
International feel
“We just caught the wave at exactly the right time,” Melton says of the initial response to ‘Nine Popes’. “I’d love to be able to claim a fabulous amount of foresight and forward thinking, but it wasn’t. Half of it was working hard and making good wine – the other half was bare-arsed luck, to be honest.”
“Half of it was working hard and making good wine – the other half was bare-arsed luck, to be honest.”
That ‘bare-arsed luck’ began when the first 1988 vintage of ‘Nine Popes’ was picked up by Melbourne-based fine wine retailer, Nick’s Wine Merchants. “Nick’s actually championed ‘Nine Popes’ when they used to – believe it or not – have a full-page ad every week in Tuesday’s Age,” Melton recalls. “They put it in their ad – and the wine was selling.” A “glowing review” from James Halliday in The Australian in March 1989, which prompted a response from Nick’s: “The following Tuesday, there’s a big ad from Nick saying, ‘Halliday discovers our discovery’! It was a dream run for getting a product in front of the public, at zero cost, basically.” Melton credits Nick’s puckish response to Halliday as “a key moment” for ‘Nine Popes’ – a micro-furore that set a feverish tone for future press coverage of the wine and its creator. ‘Nine Popes’ went on to receive high praise from Parker’s Wine Advocate for its 1995 vintage (by which time it also incorporated some mourvèdre), cementing its status as one of Australia’s cult wines just as international interest in Australia’s big, bold red wines – particularly from the Barossa – was approaching its zenith.
Opposite: The 1988 vintage ’Nine Popes’ – a turning point for grenache-blend wines in Australia. Above: the old-vine block from which the grenache for the first ‘Nine Popes’ was sourced, with Charles Melton’s cellar door under construction in background, circa 1986.
Melton happened to be the beneficiary of a global interest in the Rhône and its red varieties that emerged in the late ’80s and early ’90s, spurred on by the vogue for Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Exactly one month after the spat between Halliday and Nick’s over ‘Nine Popes’, Californian winemaker Randall Grahm was featured on the cover of Wine Spectator in a Lone Ranger costume and dubbed the “Rhône Ranger” for his promotion of Rhône varieties in the U.S.A. (Grahm’s winery, Bonny Doon, had been making a red Rhône blend named ‘Le Cigare Volant’, named after that publicity-seeking 1954 anti-UFO law, since 1984.) The name stuck to Grahm, and was adopted in the ’90s by a loose group of Californian winemakers promoting Rhône varieties. “He certainly put grenache or grenache blends on the front page,” Melton recalls. “He’s such a showman.” Meanwhile, Parker had placed the grenache-based wines of Spain’s Priorat region on the wine world’s map as the ‘next big thing’, lending further cachet to grenache and the Rhône. By 1998 even the Beastie Boys were in on the action, rapping about Châteauneuf-du-Pape in their song ‘Body Movin’.
Above: The Beastie Boys, ‘Body Movin’ (1998).
Other Australian producers had noticed, too, and started producing their own wines based on grenache, shiraz, and mourvèdre. The blend entered Australia’s mainstream when Rosemount, then Australia’s largest family-owned winery, released their first grenache, shiraz, and mourvèdre blend with the 1994 vintage. This wine bore the minimalist label of ‘GSM’, with the individual varieties spelled out in full underneath. It’s an acronym that Australian consumers took to gusto, and one that has proven so popular that it is now used to describe wines from other parts of the world – including Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
A cool future for warm-climate grapes
‘GSM’ blends are now ubiquitous within Australia, with well over 130 different labels currently producing some variation (or multiple variations) on the theme. And while the wine that kicked off the GSM blend for Australian consumers comes from the warm Barossa, GSM blends are now made from fruit grown across a wide range of climactic conditions, including some decidedly cooler areas.
Rory Lane of The Story Wines (and Young Gun of Wine People’s Choice winner for 2011) is a producer of one such cool-climate GSM blend, ‘Super G’, made from fruit he farms and sources in the Grampians. “For quite a long time I’ve had an interest in Southern Rhône wines,” he says. “I could see that there was potentially a place for some of those varieties other than the ‘S’ – the grenache and the mourvèdre – in our region when they weren’t actually really planted there at all. And that seemed like a bit of an oversight to me.” He puts the region’s lack of these varieties down to its concentration of shiraz vineyards (planted to help produce volume for larger wine companies) and grenache and mourvèdre’s reputation as warm-climate varieties: “There was a reticence to give them a go, because people thought they just might not get ripe at all where we are,” he says. A string of very warm vintages in the 2010s – evidence of a changing climate –sealed the deal for Lane: “I thought, ‘Well, if it’s getting too hot for good quality shiraz, then grenache and mourvèdre are the next logical step. And the extension of that, of course, is GSM blends.”
Opposite: Rory Lane of The Story Wines. Above: Lane with grower with grower Tim Morris in the Westgate vineyard in the Grampians – one of the sources for the grenache component in ‘Super G’.
Lane sees his investment in these varieties not only as a “climate hedge” against a warming future, but also as a “seasonally agnostic” way of delivering a consistent product no matter the vintage. “In the colder years, shiraz might be the better performing variety and the ‘GSM’ blend could be SGM, or SMG,” he says. “And in the warmer years, grenache or mourvèdre would be potentially better-performing, so you would have a higher percentage of grenache and mourvèdre in those wines. So I could see the versatility.” Each variety also brings character to the blend: “The thing that grenache and mourvèdre are able to do in a cool-climate context is provide perfume and a lightness as a counterbalance to shiraz. And so we’re seeing wines that are light to medium-bodied, highly aromatic, and spicy.”
“In the colder years, shiraz might be the better performing variety and the ‘GSM’ blend could be SGM, or SMG. And in the warmer years, grenache or mourvèdre would be potentially better-performing.”
Lane’s use of varying proportions of each variety as a climate hedge is distinctly different to the approach of Yangarra’s Peter Fraser, who has made a GSM blend since vintage 2002 from the estate’s vineyard in the warm-climate McLaren Vale. “Our blend structure for the GSM doesn’t change much from year to year,” he says. “These varieties lend themselves to these sunny climates, and generally have good resilience.” Instead of viewing the estate’s GSM as a climate hedge, he views it as a “bridge” wine that can get rusted-on shiraz drinkers to sample the estate’s flagship varietal grenaches: “We see GSM as a blend that is probably much more about drinkability and consumer-friendliness … and making wine to a style, in its simplicity.”
Above: Peter Fraser and viticulturist Michael Lane amongst ‘bush vine’ grenache in the Yangarra vineyard.
Fraser’s interest in climate-apt varieties for Yangarra’s estate vineyard – the most-recent winner of Young Gun of Wine’s Vineyard of the Year Award – has seen Yangarra plant a host of other, lesser-known southern French varieties such carignan, cinsault, and counoise (many of which are authorised components of Châteauneuf-du-Pape). This fruit goes into another wine, simply called ‘Field Blend’, alongside grenache and mourvèdre. “Our frustration with GSM, which is why did the blend, is that there are some limitations to it,” he says. While he notes that many of these varieties were not available in Australia when GSM entered its mid-’90s stride, he also sees their “lighter and more fragrant” character – “which didn’t suit when GSMs were becoming popular in Australia” –as more in line with what consumers reach for in wines today.
“Our frustration with GSM, which is why did the ‘Field Blend’, is that there are some limitations to it.”
As Fraser’s comments attest, the spectre of some of the excesses of Australian wine in the ’90s – too much alcohol, oak, and fruit character at the expense of freshness and balance – hangs over the GSM blend today. For his part, Melton sees ‘Nine Popes’ as having bucked the ‘more is more’ trend of the ’90s, despite its Parker seal of approval. “It’s a balance between getting that mouth-filling roundness without going to that big, chunky, block-headed style,” he says. “Perfume is the key thing for us. And it’s always grenache-predominant, because we want the wine to be based on that grenache perfume.”
For Lane, the virtue of the GSM blend is its medium weight and consumer-friendly approachability. “I think it sits as sort of a happy halfway for a lot of consumers to attack,” he says. “It has enough stuffing that old-time shiraz drinkers won’t scoff at it, and it has enough lightness and delicacy that people that are rusted on to pinot noir would also have a crack at it from that end … I don’t know a single customer that doesn’t like it, or that would say ‘no’ to a glass of it.”
Above: Our Deep Dive panellists gathered at the Bleakhouse Hotel, Albert Park (Melbourne)
Outtakes from the tasting
We gathered every Australian blend of grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre we could find – regardless of which names were used for the varieties, and regardless of order on the label – and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines. Below are the wines that made the panellists’ top-six selections from the tasting.
Our panel: Courtney Keegan, wine merchant and Women in Drinks state lead (Victoria), Dan Murphy’s; Ciarán Hudson, winemaker, Beyond the Glass; Masahiko Iga, head sommelier, Victoria Racing Club; James Scarcebrook, winemaker, Vino Intrepido; Peter Sherwood, head of wine buying, Vinomofo; Michael Lillis, sommelier, Wandilla Gippsland.
Sherwood commenced the discussion by noting the general strength of the category. “I thought the quality was great,” he said. “Being that they were blends, there is composition involved here, so it’s slightly harder to pick between wines. The bandwidth between ‘good’ and ‘great’ is smaller.” He added, that, by virtue of being a blended wine, “There’s just more winemaking involved” – a fact that, he felt, raised the level of drinkability but might have obscured differences in terroir and viticulture.
Opposite: Peter Sherwood. Above: Masahiko Iga and Ciarán Hudson.
Hudson observed that the wines were, in general, a lot lighter and brighter than he had assumed they would be from the GSM blend’s history of late-1990s and early-2000s popularity. “I actually expected more of the category to be overripe and jammy and not to my liking,” he said. “There were very few that were like that. And, in fact, I don’t actually know if any of them meant to be like that – even if they actually ended up like that.” He added: “During the tasting I was thinking, ‘Geez, I feel like most of these would be sub-14% alcohol’. And I really expected most of them to be 16% or more.”
Above: James Scarcebrook. Opposite: Sherwood and Iga.
For Hudson, the general lightness and elegance of the lineup demonstrated the virtues of blending. “It’s imuch easier to balance fruit ripeness when you’re looking at two or more different varieties,” he said. “When you pick shiraz early, you’re going to get savoury characteristics. Whereas when you pick grenache ever, you’re gonna get fruit – a lot of fruit.” He added: “It’s not surprising that the wines that I leaned more towards were probably ones that involved stem inclusion or other techniques that were just taking away from the ‘fruit cannon’ that is pretty easy to just go for.”
Scarcebrook noted that blending these three grapes tended to reduce the stylistic range of possibilities rather than expanding it. “Considering that we were looking at blends, I was actually surprised how narrow the diversity was, stylistically,” he said. “You would think that, considering that we’re looking at three different varieties, there’d be more diversity – but, if anything, it was actually less than you would experience at a purely varietal Deep Dive tasting.” He added: “I think that’s what’s exciting about tasting today – there were some very subtle differences in terms of expression to discover.”
”It was quite exciting to see freshness, and more brightness as well, than we might have seen from a GSM blend Deep Dive held back in the ’90s or 2000s.”
Like Hudson, Scarcebrook found virtue in the freshness and lightness on display. “There were certain icon GSM wines in Australia that were propped up partly by Robert Parker,” he said. “Those days are long gone. Certainly people want more drinkability, and food-friendliness, and accessibility – and that’s not necessarily what you get with those really big overripe styles. So it was quite exciting to see freshness, and more brightness as well, than we might have seen from a GSM blend Deep Dive held back in the ’90s or 2000s.”
Opposite: Courtney Keegan. Above: Michael Lillis.
Iga diverged on this point, stating that he preferred wines with a little more weight and structure. “My favourite style actually has some oak,” he said. “Only a small percentage of the wines had overt oak character, or were more fruit-driven expressions. Maybe the trend is going lighter in style, but I still prefer something with a bit more intense character – rather than being too light or too pretty.”
“Maybe the trend is going lighter in style, but I still prefer something with a bit more intense character – rather than being too light or too pretty.”
Lillis looped back to Sherwood’s comments on winemaking triumphing over terroir. “I actually described most of the wines today as being quite ‘European’, and by that I mean they had tannins and were generally dryer and more savoury than the big fruit bombs that I would normally have associated with grenache in Australia,” he said. “I found these wines to be totally different to what I was looking for or expecting, which was quite a pleasant surprise.” He added: “Normally I can pick out whether a wine is from Barossa or McLaren Vale quite easily, but I couldn’t find that in a lot of these wines. Not many of the wines stood out in that big Barossa or McLaren Vale style.”
Above and opposite: All wines tasted ‘blind’, with palates cleansed thanks to Antipodes.
Keegan noted that the easygoing, approachable nature of the GSM blend, and the high quality baseline, meant that there wasn’t much room for ultra-premium examples of the style – somethingthat could be a double-edged sword for the category. “I’ve probably got in my store alone somewhere between 50 and 60 different Australian GSMs. And the most in terms price point could be $72–$75 – and that’s a premium price.” She contrasted GSM’s price ceiling with ultra-premium varietal grenaches such as Yangarra’s ‘High Sands’, whose price has recently gone “up the wazoo”. She added: “And then the ones that get picked out the most are $25–$29” – a region Sherwood called the “Goldilocks Zone”.
Opposite: Lillis, Keegan, and Sherwood. Above: Hudson and Scarcebrook.
Scarcebrook noted that this price point might be a limiting factor for the category, and might play into perceptions that GSMs are essentially made from offcuts not good enough to make it into a varietal wine. “What’s our perception of what a GSM for $25 is going to be?” he said. “It’s going to be good, but it’s also probably going to be a function of the winemaker putting together the stuff they’ve got on their hands.” Hudson used a butchery analogy – often when buying a GSM you’re not buying prime rib, you’re buying sausage. In the best examples, “It’s sausage with a bit of thought behind it – it’s not like bangers at Bunnings. It’s a quite nice fennel and pork sausage.”
Above: Our Deep Dive panellists gathered at the Bleakhouse Hotel, Albert Park (Melbourne)
The panel
Courtney Keegan began her career in 2019 at Toorak Cellars. During the pandemic, Courtney pivoted into a management role at Lady Peacock, a cocktail and wine bar in St Kilda. In 2022, she joined the team at Blackhearts & Sparrows in a casual role, which quickly reignited her passion for the craft and prompted her to undertake WSET Level 3. In 2023, she became a wine merchant at Dan Murphy’s, where she is the Victorian and Tasmanian state lead for Dan Murphy’s Women in Drinks initiative, advocating for inclusivity and visibility in the drinks industry. She has served as an associate judge at the International Cool Climate Wine Show 2023 and contributed her insights to several Dan Murphy’s internal judging initiatives. She was recently awarded a Sommeliers Australia education scholarship and was named a Rootlings Victorian state champion.
The wine bug bit Ciarán Hudson in the Southern Rhône appellation of Ventoux in 2016 – his first harvest. It was a 1953 bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape that got him: a wine of unimaginable complexity, and his most profound drinking experience to date. Since then, he has returned to Ventoux for four vintages, with another planned for this year. Coming from a mechanical engineering background, muddled with a history of IT consulting, the twelve vintages across both hemispheres Ciarán has worked since 2016 has set him on a steep and intense learning trajectory. Some of the wines he makes for his Beyond the Glass label are sort of classic, showing old school restraint with some potentially big, tannic varieties, while the other side of his winemaking is experimental and fun. He’s always hunting for new ideas and challenges in the cellar.
Masahiko Iga moved to Australia in 1997 as a Japanese chef. Since then, he has managed restaurants, catering services, and event businesses while studying wine, gaining vintage experience not only across Australia but also in Barolo and the Douro Valley. Has been involved in various wine events including the James Halliday Awards luncheon and Gambero Rosso’s Top Italian Wines Roadshow, and served as the official sommelier for the original Japanese Iron Chef. He also has extensive writing experience, including a monthly column for Japan’s prestigious food and wine magazine Cuisine Kingdom. He currently works as a consultant, planning and running events and restaurants, and serves as the Head Sommelier for the Victoria Racing Club’s Flemington Racecourse and Melbourne Cup Carnival.
James Scarcebrook graduated from The University of Adelaide as a Master of Wine Business before a 16-month global wine adventure saw him visit ten wine-producing countries, including working two vintages in Germany. Scarcebrook has worked in fine-wine retail, as a representative for two leading importers, both with a focus on Italian wines, and now makes wine full-time under his Vino Intrepido label. That label is centred on Italian varieties and a quest for finding Victorian sites where they excel, teased out in a way that reflects on Italian tradition but seen through a new lens.
Peter Sherwood is head of wine buying at Vinomofo. He has formal education through the Wine and Spirit Education Trust and in-industry experience at The Empress Hotel, Markov, and Eva on Drummond. Before joining Vinomofo he co-owned Like So, an online retail business where he was consulting, curating, speaking, and tasting. Now he works across the country – and across the world – in pursuit of what to drink next. Throughout these varied pursuits, his objective has remained the same: connect good people with good drink. Peter’s approach to wine is led by a persistent curiosity for what’s in the glass, and a desire to share it with those around him.
Michael Lillis started his career as a chef, working in several five-star restaurants around Melbourne, before breaking into wine with a sales role at Vintage Cellars in Port Melbourne thirty years ago. He moved on to become fine wine manager (imports) at the flagship Quaffers store at Tooronga – at the time the largest wine store in the Southern Hemisphere. He has since worked as a sommelier at several wine bars, moving on to corporate sector consultancy roles, conducting private functions and light wine education for large companies in Melbourne’s CBD. He has participated as wine judge for three years at the Melbourne International Wine Competition. He currently writes a weekly wine blog for The Toorak Times and The Geelong Times, and works for Wandilla Gippsland as sommelier.
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