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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
The Story Behind The Name / 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, while low yielding, display amazing intensity.
The Characteristics
A classic Dead Arm in every sense of the word. The nose is brooding and alluring, earthy notes combined with dark fruits, fennel and baking spice. The longer this wine sits in the glass, the further it unfurls opening into notes of sweeter berry fruit laced with more of those soily, forest floor notes.
The palate is dense and concentrated with a plethora of fruit characters, plum, blackberry, mulberry, earth, iodine and black olive. Despite the richness and intensity of the attack and mid palate the experience surprisingly crescendos with a lick of spicy pepper, coupled with lovely, fined grained, textural tannins that seem to persist in the mouth forever. Complex, savoury and moreish!
100% McLaren Vale Shiraz
Wine Information
The Vintage The quality of vintage 2006 was very good across most varieties with fruit characters noticeably fragrant with good acidity and excellent length of flavour. The lead up to vintage was uneventful with average winter rain followed by heavy rains in spring that resulted in vines with healthy, balanced canopies on most soils. A mild, early, summer leading into a warmer period during veraison stopped vegetative growth allowing vines to channel energy into the fruit. A prolonged cool period occurred after veraison in February with some rain which enabled the fruit to ripen without any stress. Finally the warmth returned in March with cool evening temperatures to complete ripening in almost perfect conditions enhancing fruit flavour and richness without diluting levels of natural acidity. Picking was staggered with many parcels picked in wonderful autumn conditions.
The Vineyards The d’Arenberg shiraz vineyards vary greatly in their soil composition. Despite their similar appellation (McLaren Vale) individual plots are markedly different due to the fact that the area features glacial deposits, beach sand and limestone. Soils influence the fruit characters significantly. Vineyards with shallow sands on clay impart the vibrant perfume and length. The red earth on limestone soils across the hill tops adds an extra level of spice and a lively intensity to the fruit and tannins. Shallow loams on marley limestone clay give the fruit its late-emerging liquorice characters and firm gutsy tannins. The ripening periods in our vineyards differ such that we pick individual parts of each vineyard at separate times to ensure correct fruit flavour and character.
