D'Arenberg Dead Arm Vertical 2001-2008

Join us on a wonderful tasting exploring the range one of the hottest wine properties from the McLaren Vale in South Australia, d'Arenberg. With the traditional red-striped labels adorning a host of affectionate wine names such as the Money Spider, the Hermit Crab and Dead Arm the range is extensive and boasts fantastic quality and complexity which are also thoroughly enjoyable. It is their flagship premium wine, the Dead Arm Shiraz, that we will be tasting our way through from 2001 to 2008.

d'Arenberg Winery

The energetic and larger-than-life chief winemaker Chester Osborn works with individual parcels of fruit that display different flavour profiles that are influenced by the unique soil characteristics and meso climates of the vineyards. Each parcel is picked and vinified separately to highlight the individual characters that contribute complexity to the final blend. At d'Arenberg all the wines are hand-crafted and pressed in wooden baskets using the very gentle, traditional ‘Coq’ and ‘Bromley & Tregoning’ presses (dating from 1860), for both reds and whites. Chester meticulously tastes all the parcels to create the "loudest, most flowery fragrant and most fruit-flavoured wines that have great palate texture and are free of excess oak" (Chester Osborn).

Dead Arm Shiraz

Dead Arm is a vine disease caused by the fungus Eutypa Lata that randomly affects vineyards all over the world. Often vines affected are severely pruned or replanted. One half, or an ‘arm’ of the vine slowly becomes reduced to dead wood. That side may be lifeless and brittle, but the grapes on the other side, while low yielding, display amazing intensity and this is what d'Arenberg have decided to bottle with stunning results.

Robert Parker on the 2001: "Readers should be on the look out for the 2001 The Dead Arm Shiraz, one of the greatest examples of this cuvee. Its dense black/purple color is accompanied by celestial aromas of melted licorice, graphite, blackberries, cassis, incense, anise, and toasty oak. Fabulously concentrated, with great purity, an unctuous, viscous texture, and an amazingly long, 60-second plus finish, this fabulous baby will need 5-6 years of cellaring, and should drink well over the following 20-25 years." 98 points, Robert Parker