d'Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz

Notes - The name for this wine is often joked about. Some thought the wine to be so big and heavy that your arm hardly worked after consuming a reasonable amount! 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 display amazing intensity. The 2006 is very dark, vibrant, polished appearance with a dense red crimson hue. The aroma upon opening is surprisingly elegant showing superb fruit characters dominated with red fruits, plum, spices, red cherries, cranberry, white and green pepper and blueberry notes against a back drop of very fine oak. The flavours are ripe; red fruits, cherries, plums and black olives with edges of dried garden herbs. As the wine opens the palate is extremely tight and controlled. In many ways this wine is more elegant than previous vintages with tannins that have a wonderful mineral grittiness that is balanced right to the wine’s pointed finish. At the moment this wine will be relatively closed and backward in style if not allowed some opportunity to develop in the bottle. After time in bottle, ‘The Dead Arm’ gains a biscuity, cinnamon, chocolate, earthy, eucalyptus-based bouquet on top of rich blackberry pie aromas. Tobacco, mushroom, malt and earth aromas play a part on the long, fleshy, chocolate-mint and spice flavours. This wine will develop with a great balance of tannins, acidity and fruit. Classic McLaren Vale Shiraz…"d’Arenberg’s flagship is the 2006 The Dead Arm Shiraz. Opaque purple-colored, the nose is reticent but gives up aromas of meat, bacon, game, truffles, blueberry, and blackberry. Firm, layered, and complex, this beautifully rendered Shiraz demands a decade of cellaring. It will be superb from 2018 to 2036." Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
 
   

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