Showing all 8 results

• Red Wine

  2017 The Custodian Grenache, d’Arenberg

  £1550

  A beautiful crimson-purple, edging toward a purple hue. On the nose, we find tomato leaves, violets and red fruits. It’s medium-bodied with more of those red fruits, pomegranate, and rhubarb. A little on the ripe side, with some green edges. There’s some lovely, beautiful crisp acidity. A gloriously dry finish. Velvety tannins envelop the wine. Light easy-drinking in its youth. With time, this wine will become a showstopper.

  The Name:  During the vine pull scheme in the 1980s, d’Arry Osborn refused to remove his old grenache vineyards. Today d’Arenberg is the keeper of nearly one-third of McLaren Vale’s old bush vine grenache, earning the title of ‘Custodian’ of the variety.

   

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• Red Wine

  2017 The Love Grass Shiraz, d’Arenberg

  £1595

  The Love Grass 2017 is a Shiraz straight from the d’Arenberg playbook. As a young wine when first opened, it may appear closed, dark and brooding. Tar, earth and black liquorice. Air and time both help to massage out the abundant sweet fruits, blackberry and plum with an undertone of fennel and spice. In a similar way, the palate starts quite muscular and tight but over time relaxes into a more generous juicy wine. As the juicy fruit evolves the initially rustic tannins start to settle into it like sinking into a plush armchair. The strong earth characters are a nod to the organic and biodynamic principles adopted in the vineyard. The character of the fruit is gently supported, rather than dominated, by savoury old oak barrels. All in all, this is a structural wine that over-delivers at the price point and will certainly benefit from decanting whilst rewarding those with the patience to cellar it well for 5 to 10 years

  Lovegrass is a weed that grows in the vineyards and its sticky flowers affectionately attach themselves to vineyard workers’ socks. This Shiraz will linger with you in the same way that the flowers do!

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• White Wine

  2021 The Money Spider Organic Roussanne, d’Arenberg

  £1695

  There’s a real ‘standing in a field during spring’ vibe to this wine. Lots of golden sunshine, cut-straw, and yellow peach flavours. It’s round, and generous, with substantial palate weight and mouthfeel. It’s rich, toasty, and opulent.

  The name of the wine originates from the fact that the first crop of Roussanne from the 2000 vintage was covered in tiny ‘Money Spiders’. Popular belief is that kindness to these creatures will bring good luck, so Chester refrained from sending the spiders to their death. By the next year, the Money Spiders had relocated, making the first release of this wine in 2001.

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• White Wine

  2011 The Hermit Crab Viognier/Marsanne, d’Arenberg

  £1995

  The 2011 Hermit  has an Incredibly fragrant nose full of sweet apricot and gingery spice. The palate is luscious and generous but has great acid which tightens the wine, adding freshness and a clean crisp finish. Slight pithy feel which builds on the spice notes. Lovely as a fresh stand-alone drink that still exhibits some mouthfeel, or equally well adapted to enjoy with a range of foods from freshly shucked oysters through to spicy Thai style dishes.

  Many of McLaren Vale’s vineyards are on free-draining soils underlain with limestone, formed by the calcareous remains of the local marine fauna. One such creature was the Hermit Crab, a reclusive little crustacean that inhabits the cast-off shells of others. The Osborn family thought the name appropriate for this, McLaren Vale’s first-ever blend of Viognier and Marsanne. “Hermit” is also an abbreviation for the French appellation of Hermitage, where the Marsanne grape variety dominates.

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• Red Wine

  2017 The Galvo Garage Cabernet Blend, d’Arenberg

  £1995

  Made during an exceptionally balanced year. A lifted and perfumed nose displaying complex notes of violets, blackcurrant and ripe berries. The colour is quite rich, almost dark, suggesting a fuller-bodied flavour profile.  The palate is elegant, yet sings with ripe fruits, and is extremely juicy with deep richness and structure. This mix of pure fruit combines with fine oak tannins that lead to a lovely fragrant dark chocolate, minerally dry finish.

  ‘Garage wines’ is a term used to describe wines that are produced in the back sheds of French winemakers, who make small batch wines of the highest quality. Our galvanized, corrugated ‘garage’ was built in 1927 and still houses the traditional equipment used in the handcrafting of this wine.

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• Red Wine

  2018 The Derelict Vineyard Grenache, d’Arenberg

  £2095

  2018 was an exceptional year for Grenache in the McLaren Vale. An absolute abundance of fruit on the nose, with all the classics, blueberry, plum, liquorice, spice and earth. The palate too is full of presence. Juicy and generous but with a seam of crunchy tannin and lively acid that add structure and fresh punch to the wine. All of these big rich fruits are wrapped around a graphite almost ferrous like framework. Immediately drinkable but undoubtedly a Grenache built for time. If enjoying young be sure to decant or at a minimum allow it to breath in the glass. Your patience will reward you.

  The name of the wine is inspired by the time in the 1980s and early 90s when Grenache was considered unfashionable, Chester acquired many old bush vine, overgrown and abandoned vineyards. These vineyards still have a slightly dishevelled appearance, but they are back producing very low yields of exceptional fruit.

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• Red Wine

  2010 The Ironstone Pressings GSM, d’Arenberg

  £4900

  The Ironstone Pressings is named because most of McLaren Vale’s acclaimed and historic vineyards are impregnated with ancient, decomposed laterite granite known as ironstone. Its extraordinary rusty red-brown colour is derived from the iron oxides present in the stone. The larger pieces were cleared from the vineyards in the late 1880s and utilised in many of the buildings at d’Arenberg, most notably the old stables.

  Unctuous blackberry and plum notes lay at the heart of this classic d’Arenberg example of a Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre (GSM).  A spattering of exotic spices the likes of star anise, cardamom and nutmeg cling to the sweet, dark fruits and of course, it wouldn’t be a d’Arenberg wine without a rousing dose of earthy, gamey character.   The palate is fleshy and juicy with an almost velvet-like texture. Abundantly warm and generous but sufficiently structured to suggest this wine can go the long hall.

  While enjoyable in youth, this wine will reach its full potential with bottle age up to at least 20 years. The considerable structure and depth will ensure that the fruit characters will develop over time revealing more complexity and providing immense interest.

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• Red Wine

  2017 The Old Bloke and The Three Young Blonds, d’Arenberg

  £7500

  A mix of gnarly, old Shiraz partnered with youthful, exotic and fragrant white varieties. The Shiraz offers a nose brimming with dark, earthen fruits, woody spices and rich blackberry aromas. Viognier adds fragrance in the form of apricot, ginger and florals, Roussanne delivers an exotic, dried almond and papaya note, and the Marsanne contributes pistachio and yellow stonefruit.

  The palate is generous, with layers of fruit characters that ebb and flow through the entire length. The tannin structure is unique, thanks to the mingling of red and white phenolics. The rustic, chunky, mid-palate Shiraz tannins are tempered by the lusciousness of the white varieties, the finish enhanced by the addition of fragrant, flowery tannins, mainly on account of the Viognier and more nutty, walnut skin texture, from the Roussanne.

  A complex and alluring wine that evolves in the glass. So much individual character and much to take in, but somehow we are left with a sense of harmony between the old bloke and the three young blondes.

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