Maturing beautifully, this still has plenty of time ahead of it. Deep purple colour still, maybe just a hint of garnet at the rim. The fruit was black, mostly - blackberry, black cherry, blueberry, even blackcurrant - with a delicate vanilla / chocolate finish. A fine example of what the McLaren Vale can achieve
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From screwcap, no decanting, just as good and ripe as my last bottle. Full bodied, loaded with dark fruits with a lengthy silky finish. Will hold another decade.
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Páskasmakk Eðalklúbbsins. Apríl 2023. (Marbakkabraut 12): Loftað í 2 tíma fyrir smakk. Mjög dökkt á litinn. Unglegur litur. Lím og dökkir tónar í nefi. Mikill ferskleiki. Jólalegt, dökk kirsuber og járn. Á tungunni mátti finna: Dökk kirsuber, dökkan ávöxt, járn. Þarna voru líka brunatónar og lakkrís í eftirbragði. Virkilega gott vín og fyrir mig besta vín kvöldsins.
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From screw cap, not decanted, opened and poured. Dark coloured, animal fur, black fruits, mocha, vanilla, chalk, licorice, tar, rubber ending on a tannic and slightly bitter finish. Still needs a few years to mellow. I must admit that I am falling in love with screw caps as they seem to be keeping wine fresh and taint free. Wait until 2025 and start enjoying for the following decade perhaps longer.
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not sure will try again tonight finished 11/1 and let breathe what a difference, perhaps I might read what others write once in a while before drinking as this was mentioned by many
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Give it air for half an hour; quite dark red towards black; rich dense black fruit, double cream (?), hint of vanilla; mellow richness, licorice, light sweet tannins with a slight dryness; really likeable with interesting nuances
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A closed nose for the first hour. It slowly open up with toasted black pepper and clove, blackberries and tobacco. This is the classic trait for Dead Arm Shiraz when it is young and still developing. The palate is equally powerful and opaque with most fine flavours hiding behind the structure which still has some bite at the edges. Full-bodied and penetrating in the mouth leading to a fresh black fruits finish. Can be a little hot if the temperature of the wine warmed up. Keep this for a few more years if you are not prepared to decant it for at least 2 hours. A Shiraz that is built to age for at least a decade before you could appreciate its aromatic secrets. 90-92 pts.
Retasted in Oct 2022, nose is deeper and fuller after an hour in the decanter. Classic spicy notes with black fruits and good level of minerality. The same elegance still exists in the palate. To increase the score by 1 pt to 91.
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J'aimais bien à mes débuts, un vin facile, moderne et très (trop fruité). Unidimensionnel, sur-extrait et surfait. Une bombe de fruits, super long et décapant...hélas.
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Lovely dark and inky color. Strong aroma of Black Forest cake, pencil shavings. Tasted even better on the second day after opening, held strong on day three. Might seek out another bottle for longer term aging.
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Nose: dark fruits, spices, some coffee, subtle oak. Mouth: all dark fruits, excellent acidity, medium+ body, long finish, sweet dark fruit finish. 92 pt.
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Too young to get much enjoyment out of this. The nose show promise but the palate is a bit flat and finish is on the short side. Cross your fingers and come back in 5 years.
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Dark purple red. I opened and had a glass and came back to the bottle a few hours later. Iron shavings, black fruit, blood, mushroom. Medium acidity with a quick jolt and a long tapered smooth tanin finish - pomegranate liqueur, baking cocoa, blueberry, ash. Enjoying on its own but wouldn’t have a problem with any typical Syrah pairing.
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Slow to open up, needs quite a lot of air at this stage - probably a few years from peak readiness
Restrained power underneath ripish fruit and firm tannins. Acidity is a major contributor to imposing structure. Fruit is equalled by savoury elements, a little pepper emerging towards the end
At price paid in the UK, probably the best QPR of the year - less than half US lowest price. Shame I couldn't bring more back
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More earthy than the Leeuwin shiraz, with notes of olive tapenade, all spice, cracked black pepper, dark red fruits. Finish was smooth, Drink in the next 3-4 years.
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Drank this wine today with a wine mate at Peach Garden Restaurant, Thomson Plaza.
The wine spent 30 minutes in the decanter and is still far from ready. Great potential with notes of violets, plums, toffee and cigar. Tight tannins in the mouthfeel with a well built structure points to a long life ahead for this wine.
Do store this in your cellar and age it for the next 5 years, at least, before consuming.
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A frustrating wine, with touches of greatness, but not quite getting there. Is it too young? Our French colleague below thinks it is, but I'm not so sure. The wine has a pleasant clinging mouthfeel, and the familiar (although rather surprsingly a little understated here) pepper/dark fruits of the Shiraz, but it lacks density, and is, indeed, rather drying in its aftertaste (but so many young reds are). The latter, of course is tannin, which will soften with age, and that will give us a softer but not necessarily, in this case, I feel, a deeper wine. Un vin plus douce mais sans profondeur. 91-92.
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Nez expressif, du beau fuit sur la cerise, de la violette. Assez puissant avec une bonne structure tannique. Sensation d'alcool assez présente en fin de bouche. Le vin est fidèle au style de la maison d'Arenberg, on est pas dans quelque chose de surfait, le vin conserve une certaine élégance dans le genre. M'a donné l'impression que le meilleur est à venir. À oublier dans le cellier pour les 5 prochaines années. 91+
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i must be missing something here. 4 years is long enough. tasted as dry as a lizard's bum and massive acidity. open 1 hour before drinking but still.... we were eating red meat etc but harsh nonetheless.
Pure nose, real rich fruit. A thing of great beauty, this. Cherries, violets, a real terroir wine, with honest expression of place, mineral, concentrated, powerful but - crucially - restrained. Like something contained and about to explode. Exciting wine. Not for nothing one of D'Arry's most famous wines. Every vintage I've had has been impressive.
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Very dark, practically fully opaque, inky black cherry color. Dense, ripe and brooding nose that comes across as more savory than sweet despite its obvious sweetness. Aromas of boysenberries, ripe blackberries, some peppery spice, a little bit of gamey character, light notes of toasty oak, a hint of sweet blueberry and a touch of licorice. Lots of things going on here. The wine is ripe, dense and full-bodied, yet more dry and meaty than sweet and succulent on the palate. There are flavors of dark and somewhat sour plums, sweeter black berries, a little bit of blackberry marmalade, light astringent notes of chokeberries and an umami hint of raw meat. The wine is obviously quite high in acidity, but the dense body masks the acid brightness into the background, so the emphasis seems to be more on the moderately ample, firm and chewy tannins. The finish is somewhat warm, ripe but not sweet and quite meaty with rich flavors of peppery spice, herbal bitterness, wet stone minerality, some brambly blackberries and chokeberries, a little bit of licorice, a gamey hint of raw meat and a touch of woody spice.
A dense and powerful Shiraz with some weight, yet the wine doesn't come across as too concentrated and over-extracted. Despite its ripeness, the fruit is nicely on the savory side and shows only this juicy, meaty quality without coming across particularly sweet. Also the tannic structure is very nice, as it feels very firm and quite grippy - something a wine this muscular really calls for. An impressive and well-made effort - not particularly cheap at 39,80€, but the wine really manages to deliver for the price. This was a lot more impressive effort than the 2012 vintage I had a short while ago. I wish more Aussie producers made their bigger wines in this style instead of that jammy and over-oaked swill you normally come across.
Bottiglia consumata dopo la degustazione dei giorni scorsi. Tappo a vite. Colore molto intenso, scuro, riflessi violacei. Naso altrettanto intenso, dolce di prugna matura, di frutti di bosco freschi, rossi e neri (ribes, mora, mirtillo, ciliegia selvatica). Speziatura non invadente (pepe nero, chiodo di garofano) liquirizia e cacao amaro e forse un idea di tabacco dolce. Non c'è nessuna tostatura di troppo, e il naso è molto netto e pulito. Al palato struttura notevole, con tannini già molto rotondi, freschezza e punta di sapidità. È chiaramente ancora molto giovane, e attendere qualche anno (magari una decina?) ha decisamente senso. Ma resta comunque una bottiglia molto godibile, dotata in più di un finale piuttosto lungo e piacevole.
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Visita D'Arenberg (Mclaren Vale): Degustazione in azienda. Nota breve. Pulizia ed una discreta eleganza in un naso che apre speziato, classicamente di pepe ma anche di anice stellato e cannella. Presto però emerge la frutta a bacca rossa e nera, fresca, integra e polposa. Si intuiscono in sottofondo sentori vegetali e più terrosi, che danno profondità. Al palato struttura buona ma non imponente. Freschezza, un pelo di sapidità, tannini già ben torniti, e nessun sovraccarico di polialcoli. Finale di buona lunghezza. Buon prodotto che esprime una perosonalita spiccata.
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5/2/2024 - shafer1994 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Still young. Dark color, fruity nose. Bouquet of dark fruit, some chocolate. Medium finish, not overly complex. But good pqr.
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12/8/2023 - asajoseph wrote: 95 Points
Maturing beautifully, this still has plenty of time ahead of it. Deep purple colour still, maybe just a hint of garnet at the rim. The fruit was black, mostly - blackberry, black cherry, blueberry, even blackcurrant - with a delicate vanilla / chocolate finish. A fine example of what the McLaren Vale can achieve
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9/10/2023 - Ara Kafafian Likes this wine: 92 Points
From screwcap, no decanting, just as good and ripe as my last bottle. Full bodied, loaded with dark fruits with a lengthy silky finish. Will hold another decade.
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4/19/2023 - bitdrerik wrote: 92 Points
Páskasmakk Eðalklúbbsins. Apríl 2023. (Marbakkabraut 12): Loftað í 2 tíma fyrir smakk. Mjög dökkt á litinn. Unglegur litur. Lím og dökkir tónar í nefi. Mikill ferskleiki. Jólalegt, dökk kirsuber og járn. Á tungunni mátti finna: Dökk kirsuber, dökkan ávöxt, járn. Þarna voru líka brunatónar og lakkrís í eftirbragði. Virkilega gott vín og fyrir mig besta vín kvöldsins.
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2/19/2023 - Ara Kafafian Likes this wine: 92 Points
From screw cap, not decanted, opened and poured. Dark coloured, animal fur, black fruits, mocha, vanilla, chalk, licorice, tar, rubber ending on a tannic and slightly bitter finish. Still needs a few years to mellow. I must admit that I am falling in love with screw caps as they seem to be keeping wine fresh and taint free. Wait until 2025 and start enjoying for the following decade perhaps longer.
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10/31/2022 - bigbass250 Likes this wine:
not sure will try again tonight
finished 11/1 and let breathe what a difference, perhaps I might read what others write once in a while before drinking as this was mentioned by many
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6/10/2022 - Miceri Likes this wine: 94 Points
Give it air for half an hour; quite dark red towards black; rich dense black fruit, double cream (?), hint of vanilla; mellow richness, licorice, light sweet tannins with a slight dryness; really likeable with interesting nuances
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2/16/2022 - Psdycp wrote: 91 Points
A closed nose for the first hour. It slowly open up with toasted black pepper and clove, blackberries and tobacco. This is the classic trait for Dead Arm Shiraz when it is young and still developing. The palate is equally powerful and opaque with most fine flavours hiding behind the structure which still has some bite at the edges. Full-bodied and penetrating in the mouth leading to a fresh black fruits finish. Can be a little hot if the temperature of the wine warmed up. Keep this for a few more years if you are not prepared to decant it for at least 2 hours. A Shiraz that is built to age for at least a decade before you could appreciate its aromatic secrets. 90-92 pts.
Retasted in Oct 2022, nose is deeper and fuller after an hour in the decanter. Classic spicy notes with black fruits and good level of minerality. The same elegance still exists in the palate. To increase the score by 1 pt to 91.
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10/15/2021 - maxima wrote: 87 Points
J'aimais bien à mes débuts, un vin facile,
moderne et très (trop fruité).
Unidimensionnel, sur-extrait et surfait.
Une bombe de fruits, super long et
décapant...hélas.
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1/13/2021 - virginiacross Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lovely dark and inky color. Strong aroma of Black Forest cake, pencil shavings. Tasted even better on the second day after opening, held strong on day three. Might seek out another bottle for longer term aging.
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5/30/2020 - Jase80 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Perhaps a touch too young as the parts weren't all integrated yet but still a very powerful drop.
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5/9/2020 - aknot13 wrote: 92 Points
Nose: dark fruits, spices, some coffee, subtle oak. Mouth: all dark fruits, excellent acidity, medium+ body, long finish, sweet dark fruit finish. 92 pt.
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4/23/2020 - Jimmy_D wrote: 89 Points
Too young to get much enjoyment out of this. The nose show promise but the palate is a bit flat and finish is on the short side. Cross your fingers and come back in 5 years.
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12/24/2019 - jvphoto Likes this wine: 92 Points
Dark purple red. I opened and had a glass and came back to the bottle a few hours later. Iron shavings, black fruit, blood, mushroom. Medium acidity with a quick jolt and a long tapered smooth tanin finish - pomegranate liqueur, baking cocoa, blueberry, ash. Enjoying on its own but wouldn’t have a problem with any typical Syrah pairing.
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5/27/2019 - jmcmchi Likes this wine: 91 Points
Screwcap
Slow to open up, needs quite a lot of air at this stage - probably a few years from peak readiness
Restrained power underneath ripish fruit and firm tannins. Acidity is a major contributor to imposing structure. Fruit is equalled by savoury elements, a little pepper emerging towards the end
At price paid in the UK, probably the best QPR of the year - less than half US lowest price. Shame I couldn't bring more back
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5/3/2019 - Abrahm wrote: 89 Points
Fruit forward. Medium full body. Spices, cherry, plum. Cherry on the nose.
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12/16/2018 - Miceri Likes this wine: 92 Points
Dark purple red; rich dark cherries; soft attack, quite some black pepper, mild tannins with a quite (too) dry finish; very agreeable
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12/2/2018 - VegaBodega Likes this wine: 87 Points
Still a little green and tight, so decant it
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10/14/2018 - Alexander Smith Likes this wine: 92 Points
More earthy than the Leeuwin shiraz, with notes of olive tapenade, all spice, cracked black pepper, dark red fruits. Finish was smooth, Drink in the next 3-4 years.
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10/9/2018 - RajivAyyangar wrote: 91 Points
Wine and Spirits Top 100 tasting - 2018 (The Metreon, SF): Dense. Dark purple ruby. High tannins. Elevated acid. Feels 14.5%. Has blackberry that’s just ripe. And a bit of earthiness. Slight reduction / cured meat. Beautiful.
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9/20/2018 - stayhappy21 wrote: 88 Points
Drank this wine today with a wine mate at Peach Garden Restaurant, Thomson Plaza.
The wine spent 30 minutes in the decanter and is still far from ready. Great potential with notes of violets, plums, toffee and cigar. Tight tannins in the mouthfeel with a well built structure points to a long life ahead for this wine.
Do store this in your cellar and age it for the next 5 years, at least, before consuming.
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8/11/2018 - vide wrote: 91 Points
A frustrating wine, with touches of greatness, but not quite getting there. Is it too young? Our French colleague below thinks it is, but I'm not so sure. The wine has a pleasant clinging mouthfeel, and the familiar (although rather surprsingly a little understated here) pepper/dark fruits of the Shiraz, but it lacks density, and is, indeed, rather drying in its aftertaste (but so many young reds are). The latter, of course is tannin, which will soften with age, and that will give us a softer but not necessarily, in this case, I feel, a deeper wine.
Un vin plus douce mais sans profondeur.
91-92.
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7/20/2018 - wine hoarder wrote: 90 Points
Very dry. Even after 2 hours in decanter. Was acidic on opening. Slightly mellowed out in decanter but lacks fruit.
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7/5/2018 - SlimShaney Likes this wine: 91 Points
A solid shiraz and good to drink but not incredible - by incredible Aus standards.
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6/29/2018 - Oeno_PHIL Likes this wine: 91 Points
Nez expressif, du beau fuit sur la cerise, de la violette. Assez puissant avec une bonne structure tannique. Sensation d'alcool assez présente en fin de bouche. Le vin est fidèle au style de la maison d'Arenberg, on est pas dans quelque chose de surfait, le vin conserve une certaine élégance dans le genre. M'a donné l'impression que le meilleur est à venir. À oublier dans le cellier pour les 5 prochaines années. 91+
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1/17/2018 - linzgray wrote: 65 Points
i must be missing something here. 4 years is long enough. tasted as dry as a lizard's bum and massive acidity. open 1 hour before drinking but still.... we were eating red meat etc but harsh nonetheless.
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10/26/2017 - ricard Likes this wine: 94 Points
Pure nose, real rich fruit. A thing of great beauty, this. Cherries, violets, a real terroir wine, with honest expression of place, mineral, concentrated, powerful but - crucially - restrained. Like something contained and about to explode. Exciting wine. Not for nothing one of D'Arry's most famous wines. Every vintage I've had has been impressive.
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10/2/2017 - forceberry wrote: 92 Points
14,4% alcohol, 0,9 g/l residual sugar, 7,4 g/l acidity, pH 3,48.
Very dark, practically fully opaque, inky black cherry color. Dense, ripe and brooding nose that comes across as more savory than sweet despite its obvious sweetness. Aromas of boysenberries, ripe blackberries, some peppery spice, a little bit of gamey character, light notes of toasty oak, a hint of sweet blueberry and a touch of licorice. Lots of things going on here. The wine is ripe, dense and full-bodied, yet more dry and meaty than sweet and succulent on the palate. There are flavors of dark and somewhat sour plums, sweeter black berries, a little bit of blackberry marmalade, light astringent notes of chokeberries and an umami hint of raw meat. The wine is obviously quite high in acidity, but the dense body masks the acid brightness into the background, so the emphasis seems to be more on the moderately ample, firm and chewy tannins. The finish is somewhat warm, ripe but not sweet and quite meaty with rich flavors of peppery spice, herbal bitterness, wet stone minerality, some brambly blackberries and chokeberries, a little bit of licorice, a gamey hint of raw meat and a touch of woody spice.
A dense and powerful Shiraz with some weight, yet the wine doesn't come across as too concentrated and over-extracted. Despite its ripeness, the fruit is nicely on the savory side and shows only this juicy, meaty quality without coming across particularly sweet. Also the tannic structure is very nice, as it feels very firm and quite grippy - something a wine this muscular really calls for. An impressive and well-made effort - not particularly cheap at 39,80€, but the wine really manages to deliver for the price. This was a lot more impressive effort than the 2012 vintage I had a short while ago. I wish more Aussie producers made their bigger wines in this style instead of that jammy and over-oaked swill you normally come across.
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8/8/2017 - Bluespolo wrote: 91 Points
Bottiglia consumata dopo la degustazione dei giorni scorsi. Tappo a vite. Colore molto intenso, scuro, riflessi violacei. Naso altrettanto intenso, dolce di prugna matura, di frutti di bosco freschi, rossi e neri (ribes, mora, mirtillo, ciliegia selvatica). Speziatura non invadente (pepe nero, chiodo di garofano) liquirizia e cacao amaro e forse un idea di tabacco dolce. Non c'è nessuna tostatura di troppo, e il naso è molto netto e pulito. Al palato struttura notevole, con tannini già molto rotondi, freschezza e punta di sapidità. È chiaramente ancora molto giovane, e attendere qualche anno (magari una decina?) ha decisamente senso. Ma resta comunque una bottiglia molto godibile, dotata in più di un finale piuttosto lungo e piacevole.
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8/6/2017 - Bluespolo wrote: 91 Points
Visita D'Arenberg (Mclaren Vale): Degustazione in azienda. Nota breve. Pulizia ed una discreta eleganza in un naso che apre speziato, classicamente di pepe ma anche di anice stellato e cannella. Presto però emerge la frutta a bacca rossa e nera, fresca, integra e polposa. Si intuiscono in sottofondo sentori vegetali e più terrosi, che danno profondità. Al palato struttura buona ma non imponente. Freschezza, un pelo di sapidità, tannini già ben torniti, e nessun sovraccarico di polialcoli. Finale di buona lunghezza. Buon prodotto che esprime una perosonalita spiccata.
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