This is the third wine we tasted during the second class I recently took at the Texas Wine School (website). It is the Fall Creek Vineyards (website) GSM from their Terroir Reflection Series.
The tasting notes say:
The blend includes 6% Grenache, 12% Syrah, and 82% Mourvèdre from Salt Lick Vineyards aged in Fr/Am oak barrels. Inky dark color brings tart cherry, currant, and red plum with and underpinning of mushrooms, earthy savoring and chalk lingering on the flourish.
Salt Lick Vineyards and Fall Creek Vineyards are located in the Texas Hill Country.
The website
90 Points from James Suckling 2018 Report
A medium-bodied compote of tart cherry, currant, and red plum with an underpinning of mushrooms, earthy savoring, and chalk lingering on the finish of this well-structured wine. The FCV GSM is bursting with delicious dark fruit flavors which marry well with Short Ribs and Polenta or Tomahawk Pork Chops. (website)
My Notes:
This had an amazing chocolate scent. I just wanted to sit in front of a fire and smell chocolate and sip wine – but I stayed in class and savored the sweet, but dry finish. It was very earthy (and chocolatey). Maybe some red/black fruits on the nose and a little in the taste. I made a note about it having a ‘dry spice scent’ – to which I was told that was probably wet earth and leather. Since I’m not in the habit of sniffing either of those – I’ll take the commenter’s word for it.
I gave it a Wednesday rating, but I’d honestly drink this any night of the week. Well, maybe not when the whole family comes over for dinner. They might not appreciate the subtleness of this blend.
Final Thoughts
I did learn that the deep garnet color of the wine comes from the Mourvèdre and that dark essence carries through the wine both in color and flavor. Plus, the juiciness of the wine is from the Syrah.
The number one rule of blending is to only blend what you have available. Which is why even though this is a Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre blend, the Grenache is the lowest percentage. Besides, if you labeled it in order, who would want to drink MSG? Maybe if the winery had a cute #hashtaggy name or something – but no.
