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Later in proceedings I opened a bottle of the 2005 GSM as another interesting taste. An unoaked blend of Grenache, Sangiovese (rather than Shiraz) and Mourvedre sourced from dry-grown hand-pruned vineyards with the components fermented separately and blended to produce a fruity wine with nicely structured tannins.

As you’d expect most of what you’re getting comes from the seriously-underrated Grenache but the dash of tannin that the other two varieties bring to the party makes for a fruity wine that’s got plenty to offer as it passes over the palate.

I hadn’t tried a lot of the GSM blends before our trip to South Oz in November ‘08 but I’ve become a big fan of the style, and this, given the slightly different notes that the Sangiovese contributes, is a particular favourite.

With a few years bottle age the 2004 Sevenhill Cabernet Sauvignon has turned out to be a very nice wine indeed.

I'd hung off opening the two bottles in the dozen on the basis that we'd find an excuse to do that sometime and when we packed up the contents of the wine rack to head south in February '10 both bottles went with us. Given high expectations there was no way they were going to be left in a closed house to sweat through a Northern wet season.

As a result two bottles travelled all the way to Southport and all the way back as we found other food-wine matches. Having been back to base for a good three weeks, however, a batch of my favourite sugo needed a red to wash it down, so I bit the bullet and cracked a Sevenhill Cabernet.

And I'm glad I did. This one's a cracker.

Halliday tasted it two years ago, rated it 91 and pronounced it likely to be long lived. Given the fact that my stocks now consist of a single bottle I'm regretting the fact that I didn't order more.

Full flavoured with nice oaky overtones, it’s a soft rounded style, full flavoured and elegant with everything you'd want in an Australian Cabernet present in spades except for the minty character you find in a Coonawarra Cabernet.

All in all, if space in the wine fridge wasn't at a premium (and if the other bottle hadn't been so well travelled) I'd be inclined to see how it shaped up in about five years time.

But it is, and it has been, and there's every chance I’ll be ordering more than two bottles of the '05.

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