GSM stands for Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre the classic blend made famous in a small sliver of the south of France. The Rhone Valley, and south eastern France, is a great region to discover and go deep on wine. The Rhone AVAs produces rich, deep and sultry wines, and especially goes deep on Syrah. For example, in Crozes Hermitage there are so many good Syrah vineyards to discover. Luckily because of its acreage Crozes Hermitage is actually a region of France where you can find wines of distinction here in the Americas, and these wine coming from the flatlands near the famous Hermitage hill are often very tasty, you can find fruit forward Syrah that shows of the region nicely, and may be a good introduction into the noble Syrah component of GSM. It is where I realized Syrah doesn’t have to be “really big”, and can be more fruity.
Besides France, Australia is also popular for GSM blends. And it is not always G-S-M, sometimes, it is M-G-S, or any combination. It is GSM because in Chateauneuf-du-Pape the tiny region most famous for GSM blends, there, the dominant first grape is Grenache. Outside the strict standards of France, some prefer Mourvedre first, and still others, love the richness and spiciness of Syrah first. So any combination of “G-S-M” really does work, as long as the (French wine) authorities allow it of course. In the USA, strict appellation growing controls really don’t exist. An example of strict French controls would be, only Viognier can be planted in Condrieu, and only Marsanne, Roussanne and Syrah are allowed in St. Joseph, and so forth, in the Northern Rhone. American (and most) winemakers can go with their heart and make varietals happen as they wish.
This blog is about very select GSM makers across California who I am familiar with. GSM is perhaps most prevalent in Paso Robles where all 3 varietals have taken significant hold and Paso Robles is probably now the Rhone capital of California as the wine industry there is quite big, especially high premium wines. The Paso area has done extremely well for the Rhonists. I live in El Dorado County, and therefore try to visit all the wineries I can, of the Sierra Foothills, but we are 200 strong, and hitting 20-40 is more realistic. For coastal inhabitants, the Sonoma to Santa Barbara coastline is also very strong in producing these three varietals, so you can find GSM’s probably in all the major California regions I just mentioned. For the Foothills wineries these are my favorites that perennially focused on producing a top quality GSM blend.
El Dorado County – Pleasant Valley wineries
Holly’s Hill – this is a purest Rhone vintner that focuses only on Rhone varietal on their large 40 acre estate. Their Patriarche and Lover’s Leap are both excellent blends of M-G-S. Josh and Carrie Bendick, the winemakers here, love Mourvedre and often blend in more Mourvedre into their blended wines than you will find at other wineries. Their wines and their Syrah’s as well are just delicious. Patriarche is their flagship product.
Sierra Vista – this is the grandfather estate that dates all the way back to the 1970’s when Barbara and John MacCready started wine making up on this hill, pretty far from downtown Placerville (30 minute drive). It is now run by a new owner, Jim Czachorowski, and you can see the expert review of this winery by Guy Tucker of foothillswino.com here. There are two GSM offerings here, namely a more classic GSM called Fleur-de-Montagne, and the robust and age worthy Outlaw which is Syrah forward and much darker, and richer.
El Dorado County – Fair Play wineries
Bumgarner Winery – The Fiona wine from Bryan is a very nice expression of complex, and textured GSM, and he’s been making it for years. In Fair Play this is one of the two you should try. The Fiona is not a big (dark, robust) GSM, but rather a finesse GSM that shows of the herbal notes that are so common with mountain Rhone grapes. This is a tremendous accomplishment for our area, and simply one reason to visit this beautiful family run winery that has two tasting rooms. One in Camino and another in the high hills of Fair Play!
Gwinllan Estate – Directly in the very heart of Fair Play on Fair Play Road is this family run winery with innovative winemaker Jonathan Pack. Jonathan has a GSM that he considers his most complex and textured wine. Give it a try and enjoy the tasting in his tasting room cave, where you might find Jonathan’s mom Chris pouring with their dog by her side. Jonathan calls his GSM the Winemaker’s Selection. Make sure you taste this wine carefully and slowly.
Amador County – Shenandoah Road
Terre Rouge/Easton wines – If you know anything about Rhone and the Rhone Ranger clan that helped bring these varietals to the forefront in California. Then you have heard of Bill Easton. He’s a founding member of the Rhone Rangers, and his wines are varied, robust and excellent. My favorite GSM blend from Terre Rouge is the L’Autre, which means the “other” in French and probably his most popular in terms of volume and exposure is called the TÊTE-À-TÊTE, or face to face. His focus on all the varietals that make California great is amazing, but his work with Syrah has earned him 100 points from Wine Enthusiast and Bill Easton’s work is simply too good to pass up. Look here
Paso Robles – Adelaida District
Tablas Creek – founded in 1989 this is definitely a winery of master distinction since it has a deep and family-based connection to Chateau Beaucastel. There are many wines here of Grenache or Syrah mixture so study carefully. From the Patelin to the Gobelin, the choices are rich, varied and generally off the charts good. I discovered this winery about 20 years ago on a trip my wife and I took to the area to discover some great wine and I am still as big a fan as I was that day tasting that amazing wine. Their GSM mixtures are very varied and beautiful. As long as Neil Collins is leading the cultivation and wine making team at Tablas Creek, you should expect nothing but excellence out of this exceptional property and management. This is one of the few wineries that has a full lab and works on the wine chemistry with a complete focus. Tablas Creek tries to do everything to perfection. What a delight of a soup to nuts direct to consumer winery.
Other notable GSMs from Paso Robles (this is not comprehensive at all):
Booker Wines (Oublie)
Coastal California
I am no expert or even deep taster of this area, but it should not be overlooked as Syrah has branched into the Santa Lucia Range and many of the appellations outside of Paso Robles. So look into the wineries of Sonoma, Santa Maria, Monterey and Santa Barbara Counties to find Syrah and perhaps a great G-S-M blender. I know from my studies of the Rhone Rangers that Bob Lindquist is a master of the Rhones.
You can find his work here:
Lindquist Family wines
Another Rhone wine master is Randall Grahm , he works with a Santa Maria vineyard to produce his Language of Yes experiments, which is not G-S-M but does involve Syrah and Grenache just to his liking. His latest renditions are pretty deep on the complexity scale, as I bought his first vintage of this new experiment, and was delighted with the outcome.
To finish off, here is a picture of the soulful heart of the G-S-M wine region in France. I took this shot in November 2022. The town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, on the hill where the castle ruins barely stand. You are looking at the very nice homes of the tiny town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The chateau for the church elite is no longer there… The GSM components, they are thriving, and ready for a good long rest as well.
