Say goodbye to the legendary Gravet carignan, and welcome this red blend
The Mont Gravet carignan is one of the great cheap wines of all time; the 2015 was spectacular, and I still smile when I think about the audience’s reaction at the cheap wine seminar I gave at an American Wine Society conference. Blown away would be the polite description.
Sadly, though, the carignan seems to be gone. Call it just another of the wine business’ vagaries, whether because the grapes weren’t available or cost too much or whatever.
In its place, we get the Mont Gravet GSM 2021 ($12, sample, 13%), since it has the same SKU (the number on the bar code on the back label). Which, all things considered, isn’t such a bad thing.
The GSM is also French, and is a blend of about one-third each of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre (hence its name). It’s a different wine – a more traditional style than the carignan, which is rarely used for varietal wines.
It’s bigger and heavier in the mouth certainly, and not necessarily the kind of red to keep in the fridge when you want a glass of something. So a food wine, with much riper red fruit (especially from the grenache), an almost bacon fat thing from the syrah, and even some spice (black pepper?).
Pair this with summer barbecue and enjoy, but don’t overlook any past vintages of the carignan in case you find them.
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