Grosset Gaia 2003

Tasting Notes

The blend of the 2003 Grosset Gaia has a touch more merlot and bit less cabernet franc than usual - cabernet sauvignon (75%), cabernet franc (15%) and merlot (10%) - and is sourced from Grosset's windswept Gaia vineyard in the Clare Valley.  All components spent sixteen months in French oak barrique, 50 per cent of which were new, before the final blend was assembled.

This is a very good Gaia and, while not as forward as the previous vintage, may prove to be more approachable at a young age than most of the line. It has a brooding intensity on the nose, is supple initially, and smooth, powerful yet appears restrained, has ripe dark berry fruit flavours, some meaty, earthy notes and substantial fine tannins which build in the mouth making the finish firm and dry.  It is opulent, concentrated and very impressive.  It needs at least short term cellaring and will benefit from five years in the bottle, and may be cellared (in air conditioned comfort) for several more years.

'Jeffrey Grosset... crafts one of Australia's most elegant, almost Italian-style cabernet sauvignon blends in Australia's Clare Valley, better known for its riesling and shiraz ...(Gaia is) his fine Bordeaux-style blend produced from the eponymous vineyard he planted in 1986.'  Anthony Rose (UK)

Peter McCombie MW
Decanter Magazine (UK); "Atypical Australia - Cool Elegance" (April 2007)
Elegant, fine and beautifully balanced, this Bordeaux blend's firm structural grip means it isn't anything like ready.  10 years plus.

Campbell Mattinson
Wine Front Monthly - Edition 37 (September 2005)
Perfectly formed.  What a stunningly elegant wine! Ripe, sure-footed, softly tannined and varietal, with black currants and a gentle sashay of herbs rippling through the mouth.   There's nothing desperately complex about it but at such a young age, that is no great criticism.  This will age brilliantly. If balance is any wine's greatest virtue, then this wine is blessed.
Drink: 2005-2016. 93 POINTS

Jeni Port 
The Age (October 2005)
Better Red and far from Dead.
Clare Cabernet is not often described as "pretty", but Jeffrey grosset's Gaia comes close.  It's from a high spot in Polish Hill, where the soils are hard and heavy in shale and acidity.  The resulting wine is (understandably) firm with purity of bright, dark berry fruit.