d’Arenberg Vintage Fortified Shiraz 50cl

d’Arenberg Vintage Fortified Shiraz, another classic from this famous Australian producer.

From the first declared vintage in 1928, their fortified wines have been Shiraz based, and the vines that produced the original vintage still provide the grapes for this wine. These old vines are stumpy, gnarled and deep rooted, distinguished by their small bunches of highly coloured and intensely flavoured grapes.

2018 is a tale of two vintages for red wines in McLaren Vale. Winter rain ensured the soil reached filled capacity and set the vines up perfectly with healthy balanced canopies. A normal spring and an unseasonably cool January and February meant most vines remained stress free and for early picked parcels flavour ripeness was achieved at reasonably low sugar levels and high natural acidity. However, a sustained heat wave in early March forced frantic picking and resulted in rich ripe characters.

Generosity is the theme of this wine. The aromatic nose is a gift of chocolate, fresh pipe tobacco, and Christmas pudding, with fresh violets lingering in the background together with an array of spices, from nutmeg and cinnamon, to cloves and ginger. This wine has been fortified with high quality brandy spirit during the natural fermentation process. This has captured the beautiful character of the fermenting grapes. The palate is packed with intense flavours of plummy sweet fruit, figs, nuts, dried apricot, and exotic lively spice. Natural acidity has been retained and provides a structure on which the generous fruit body of this wine can sit. Chewy grape tannins carry this generosity through on a long and warm finish.

d’Arenberg Vintage Fortified Shiraz from McLaren Vale, a great example of this typically aussie style of wine.

To see our full range of d’Arenberg product go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/darenberg/

For more information on the winery go to https://www.darenberg.com.au/

d’Arenberg – one of Australia’s first families of wine.