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

Tasting Notes

Nose: Fragrant, with intense McLaren Vale Grenache blood orange character, supported with ferrous and iodine notes
Palate: There’s some initial fruit sweetness on the front palate, quickly morphing into a long line of concentrated red fruit and spice. The finish is tangy, with young, crunchy tannins, resulting in a wine with fantastic structure and incredible length.
Grape Varieties: 70% Grenache, 25% Shiraz, 5% Mourvedre
Awards: Double Gold, Six Nations Wine Challenge, 2018; Gold, China Wine & Spirits Awards, 2019; Gold, The Global Grenache Masters; 90, Halliday Points; 95, Ray Jordan, The Weekend West; 94, Nick Stock, jamessuckling.com; 93, The Wine Front, Campbell Mattinson; 93, QWine; 92, Andrew Graham, Oz Wine Review; 90, Joshua Greene, Wine & Spirits Magazine; 4 Stars, Winewise McLaren Vale Grenache Blends Tasting

History of d’Arenberg

McLaren Vale is home to some of the oldest vines in the country, dating as far back as 1850. The Mediterranean climate, huge array of soil types and proximity to the ocean with the resultant cooling sea breezes make it an idyllic location for wine grape growing.

Since 1912 the Osborn family have tended vineyards in McLaren Vale, South Australia. Today fourth generation family member, Chester, makes distinctive wines using traditional methods both in the vineyard and the winery. Chester walks through the vineyards and determines the ideal picking time for each individual vineyard. d’Arenberg is one of the only wineries in Australia to basket press both white wines as well as reds, making for a labour intensive process, but the quality of the results makes this worthwhile as the action is controlled and extremely gentle.

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