D'arenberg The Laughing Magpie Mclaren Vale Shiraz Viognier 2007

McLaren Vale, South Australia

31/12/2016

Shiraz/Viognier

American and French oak barriques for maturation. At 12 months, Dead Arm downcasts are selected from oak and are blended together to balance the level of Viognier in the final blend.

Very dark rich looking appearance with a black-crimson hue suggesting a complex youthful dry red.

red. The aroma is intense and still quite undeveloped with a floral mix of peach stone, jasmine and cranberry juice overriding dark maraschino cherries, star anise, and spiced fruit cake. If you give the wine a vigorous decanting youll see amongst the floral vegetative earthy notes a dominance of white pepper plum notes mixed with root vegetables such as parsnips and beetroot, along with hints of roasted black tea, black olives and edges of fragrant garden herbs.

The palate is full flavoured with ripe juicy soft mouth-filling flavours suggesting beetroot juice, blueberries blackcurrants and red cherries with herbaceous edges that keep the palate in check. Overall a slightly lighter wine than previous years but the oak is showing a greater impact due to its youth, with lovely cedary notes that complement the abundant tea like tannins and edgy mineral acidity that gives the wine excellent definition. The concentration of this wine suggests it will greatly benefit further bottle aging for the medium term and in 10 years or so, depending on storage, it should be at its drinking best

The vineyards and bushland that surround the dArenberg winery are home to the unique native Australian bird, the Kookaburra, famous for its distinctive laughing call. Much to the amusement of the family, Chester Osborns daughters, Alicia and Ruby, named their two wild pet Kookaburras the Laughing Magpies. The Magpie plumage is black with a stripe of white feathers and bears no resemblance to its famous cousin, but to this day the name has stuck. The Osborns thought the name was a good choice for McLaren Vales first ever Shiraz Viognier blend combining the (black) Shiraz and its white partner, Viognier.

14.5%