GSMs making their mark

摘要

It seens only last year I was writing on Rhone red blends for the Wine Industry Journal. At the time, Grenache was emerging from its partial oblivion in cheap generic reds, bag-in-box wines or, most ignominious of all, as a source of 'red-fruit character' in sparkling wine bases. Mourvedre had, a least, changed its name from the less attractive Mataro, although it was still difficult to find single varietal examples to study Shiraz, in contrast, was displacing Cabernet Sauvignon as the 'in demand' Australian red variety here and overseas. It seemed the era of the Rhone varieties was dawning. 'Rhone varieties' can mean a lot, of course. Most inclusive would be the full list of varieties allowed in Chateauneuf du Pape, which runs to Cinsaut, Counoise, Vaccarese, Muscardin, Picpoul Noir and Terret Noir, as well as the more familiar three red varieties above. White varieties add to the complexity, with Clairette—formerly called Blanquette in Australia—Grenache Blanc, Picardan, Picpoul Gris and Roussanne. Our greater selectivity in using just Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre, while driven by availability, is pretty reasonable since anything goes in Chateauneuf, too; Chateau de Beaucastel and a few others use the lot, while Chateau Rayas uses only Grenache.