GSM Rosemount 2003 McLaren Vale South Australia

GSM Rosemount 2003 from McLaren Vale South Australia was Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2007 and on tasting it you can see why. There is 50% Grenache, 40% Syrah and 10% Mouvedre, Rhone grapes and a blend associated with the Southern Rhone traditionally.

 

This wine has some age - 9 years, and has a deep garnet core with a narrow garnet rim with fast forming but then slow legs, when swirled.
Pop your nose near the glass and you get hit by a real fruit punch, black berry fruits, spice, chocolate and coffee and even a touch of dried fruits ( dates raisins...) and this is all wrapped up in smokey tabacco aromas.
The mouth feel is what you would expect from a high alcohol wine ( 15%), silky and smooth, but the alcohol is well integrated and does not feel out of kilter.
The acidity keeps this fruit bomb fresh, but too a certain extent it feels a little unreal, not in balance with the wine. The tannins are low and ripe, have lost some of their grip with age but still offer some structure to this wine. Flavours abound, dark fruits, licquorice, coffee, chocolate, but all are encapsulated and to a certain extent dominated by the chunky oak. The fruit flavour is starting to fade - aged - and so this wine needs drinking soon, and this could partly explain its imbalance, it needs the fruit content to knit with the oak and the acidity.