2002 Grant Burge Holy Trinity GSM

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As Jeff predicted, I am writing a review of this. It has been a while since we drank it but I have been blog lazy of late.

I gave this plenty of time to breathe and ate it with some lamb loin that I cooked roast style. As a wine to eat with my lamb I thought that it was eminently drinkable – I think that it paired quite well with the flavor of the flesh, and it was very smooth. To my drunken shame I killed half a bottle of it before taking the remainder to share with Jeff, and I enjoyed every drop.

Ultimately it was not the GSM that I hoped for though. Rosemount sets the bar with their offering, and the Holy Trinity cost me more than that, so on the value front it loses right away there. I think that The Steading is another better offering in the price range too – since I drank it I have been craving another bottle.

Personally, I think that Jeff was a little harsh on it. Perhaps this is just the kind of wine that does better with food, and that explains our slight difference of opinion.

2005 Sons of Eden “Kennedy” Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre

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I nabbed this one day when I saw it in a Real Estate Agency / Art Gallery / Wine Shop in Kirkland (I shit you not). I am a sucker for the GSM, and this one apparently was supposed to be good and priced at a point where I might believe it.

Tonight is the second night that I am partaking in this wonderful blend. It definitely has a hint of raspberry to it on the nose, and it is very rich and full bodied to drink without being hot in the mouth. I think that it is a bit young to be drinking though, because the tannins are stronger than the sugar. This is not a serious deficit, and something that I am sure some time in a cellar would do well to fix.

Today I noticed that Seattle Wine Co. has this in the 2004. I may just go down there and nag a bottle sometime to leave in the cellar for a year or two. This is a great GSM for having a relaxing meal or a quiet drink with somebody. Not as smooth as The Steading that I reviewed recently, but it is a bit cheaper and has a more aggressive style that some people like to go for at times.

2004 Torbreck The Steading

Winery Page (you need to work through some flash)

I was looking around a local wine shop and I noticed this on a shelf for about 30 bucks. I have a bottle of slightly more premium Torbreck (The Struie) and I wanted to try something cheaper from Torbreck to see what I think of them. I figured that a GSM would be a perfect way to try things out.

I drank this bottle over a couple of different sittings, both times with some lamb loin that I had cooked up. I gave it some breathing time, and gave myself some breathing time after exspending 5000 calories getting the cork out of the bottle. That shiznit was in there tight!

The word of the day with The Steading is subtle. According to the website, this is a pretty heavy alcohol wine, but everything about it was smooth and subtle as I was drinking it. As far as flavor goes, it is not a pepper bomb like the fantastic Rosemount GSM. But it is 60% Grenache, and the proportions in these blends has a huge effect on the flavor.

Even after two nights of drinking this wine I don’t know what I feel about it. I quite enjoyed drinking it with my meal both times. It tasted incredibly well made. But it did not have as much of the appeal as some other wine (like the Pastor Fritz) that made me want to have just one more glass each time. I think that this understated elegance in the wine is something that a lot of people appreciate more than I do, and I suspect that I will want to have something more like this at some point in the future. There is also the question of what some time in bottle would do – I think that it might be work 30 bucks for me to find that out.