d'Arenberg Wines from the McLaren Vale with Jack Walton

First Glass Fine Wine Wednesday Tasting 1 August 2018
d'Arenberg Wines from the McLaren Vale with Jack Walton
Notes by Sue Courtney
Wines were not tasted blind

 
 
d'Arenberg The Money Spider Roussanne 2017
Light citrine in hue with delicate tropical fruit aromas and an intriguing touch of spearmint infusing the warm oily taste with a hint of apricot and yellow guava and a peppery papaya seed heat. Mouthfilling and textural but also bright, flinty, dry and tangy. Oysters would be a terrific match. 
12.9% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne  2016
There's a citrine brightness to the hue and a sense of honeyed apricot both to the aroma and the taste together with peach and a tingle of ginger juice that’s nicely honed by refreshing acidity and an underlying savouriness. Mouthcoating and textural with a subtle smoky nuance to the long warm, lingering finish.  
13.3% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $15.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Peppermint Paddock Sparkling Red
A blend of Chambourcin, Shiraz and Graciano grapes, this is an intensely vivid purple crimson in the glass with a lacy foam when poured. It radiates boysenberry and mulberry scents and the full-bodied, juicy taste is crammed with plums, prunes, chocolate coated raisins, cinnamon and leather finishing with a flourish of freshly crushed mint.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $31.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2014
Deep burgundy hued with touches of ruby in the core and garnet edges. Cedary aromatics with hints of mint, plums and cherries. Tight knit and tannic driven at first in the finely textured savoury palate that’s lifted with mint – like after milk chocolate-coated dinner mints – and red berries and finishes with a juicy sweetness that counteracts the initial dryness and leaves a smile. A Grenache that can be cellared for years. 
14.4% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
Inky black red with crimson edges. Profoundly savoury and leathery on the nose at first then fragrant blackcurrant scents waft through. A classic dry red with upfront dry, slightly mouth-puckery, chalky tannins and intense cassis / blackcurrant / black Doris plum fruit with lingering savoury oak and subtle nuances of cacao, tobacco, mint and leather. The fruit overwhelms the tannins and the incredibly long finish is vibrant and lively.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $ 17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Galvo Garage 2013
This blend of Cabernet, Petit Verdot and Merlot is inky in the glass with a minty infusion to the bright berry and cedar scent and it tastes deliciously juicy from the outset with supple tannins and sappy minty cedary notes framing the succulent plum, mulberry and black cherry fruit with a firm earthy leathery savouriness underpinning it all. Totally on song with lingering berry and mint chocolate notes.
14.4% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz 2015
Purple red. Berry pie, spiced tobacco and chocolate-coated red liquorice scents. Mouthfilling, lifted and minty with sappy oak and upfront red berry fruits underpinned by chewy, crushed velvet tannins that seem more fine and silky on the long, ripe, juicy finish with touches of vanilla and cake spices, and lingering menthol tobacco.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Love Grass Shiraz 2015
Inky crimson black. Intense aromas of dark smoky cedar, mint, blackberry and woody herbs. A profoundly savoury wine with earth, graphite and coal – a wine that evokes a warm winter fire toasting marshmallows over the embers – the sensual brooding savouriness lifted by juicy black plums, mulberries and cherries with a smattering of pepper and black liquorice while refreshing underlying acidity balances out the jammy sweetness on the deliciously long mouthfilling finish. Value for money buy of the night. 
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2013
Inky black red. Aromatic and perfumed with wafts of apricot, milk chocolate, mulberry and mint. At first it seems velvety smooth then the tannins kick in mid-palate and it’s smooth flowing on the finish again. There’s a lovely depth of succulent fruit and vinous sweetness to the creamy finish with an underlying woody, stalky, sappy character and lingering floral / rose petal notes.  ‘Soft yet seriously structured,’ said Jack.
14.6% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Wild Pixie Shiraz 2014
Inky black red. Black forest chocolate, earth, leather and vanilla fill the bouquet. A dark, brooding, firmly structured wine with enchanting earthy, savoury, mushroomy notes – magic mushrooms – meaty mushrooms – and very intense berry fruit together with vanilla, spice, pepper and a bright flourish of mint chocolate making the finish very moreish. 
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $31.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2015
Inky purple / black red – fine in appearance.  Dark sappy oak on the nose and while at first it seems super fine in the palate this is a deceptive veneer as the tannins are firm and teeth-coating. Wonderful intensity of lightly jammy cherry, mulberry, raspberry, plum and blackberry fruit with nutty oak, toasted hazelnut chocolate, lifted mint and sensuous vanilla tones on a bed of sweet earth, herbs and pepper, and a dark mint chocolate finish. A monumental wine that really should be cellared at this stage of its life.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.

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