d'Arenberg, The Dead Arm Shiraz, McLaren Vale

Still very dark. Some brown as expected with age. Dark ripe fruit on the nose. Slight tanin. Some oak and ripe fruit. Medium complexity. Long finish. Will keep 5-10 more years, but will not likely improve. Drink now.

2004 vintage

On the nose, the wine opens with expressive, dark fruit aromas: ripe blackcurrant supported by subtle oak, a hint of smoke, and a gentle barnyard note that adds depth and intrigue. On the palate, it is powerful yet remarkably balanced, with impressive concentration and weight without ever feeling overdone. Everything is harmonious and beautifully integrated. For a 21-year-old wine, it is in a strikingly precise drinking window—vibrant, fresh, and fully alive. With ideal cellaring, it could easily have evolved gracefully …

2004 vintage

Still has power and balance.

2008 vintage

Big hearted, warming and generous this had dark berry fruits infused with pepper morphing into black chocolate. Mouth-filling and easy drinking, it reeked of McLaren with its purity of fruit, but I didn’t find it overly complex. Drinking exceptionally well for a 21 year old and showing no signs of letting up. CHP 91 pts

2004 vintage

Expressive nose. Bold, delicious palate. Not a lot of complexity, but enough. Concentrated blueberry-cherry fruit, with licorice, tar, cigar box, spice. Solid structure and lively acidity with fully integrated tannins. At or slightly past its prime. Good with food or on its own. No point in holding onto these much longer.

2004 vintage

Spring 2025, nice integrated fruit.

2008 vintage

Well past its prime.

2004 vintage

It's not going to get better so drink it now! (02/25)

2008 vintage

Paired well with Okinawan short ribs

2004 vintage

100% Syrah. The wine gets its name from the Eutypa Lata infection which afflicts some of the oldest d'Arenberg Shiraz vines. This disease can attack any part of the canopy, but often it attacks one "arm" of the vine, rendering it infertile and dead, making the remaining arm produce very concentrated fruit. The grapes are harvested between early March and late April, then transferred into open-top fermentors where the grapes are foot-trodden through 2/3 of the fermentation, after which the …

2004 vintage

Wine Bordeauxphilia (at Mati's) : still alive and kicking but over its peak, lost soome complexity. drink now.

2004 vintage

Tasted triple blind. Power-packed, mature, and complex. Encompassing fruit that would be hard for any palate to dislike. Excellent acidity and a long, timeless finish. No idea what this is but it's classy.

2004 vintage

A seriously good MV Shiraz! Big bold fruit, integrated tannins, lovely mouth feel with a spicy finish. Yum!

2004 vintage

Mature, leather, liquorice, pencil, has a “dry dusty road” feel to it, almost Bordeaux-ish, but more power. Drinks very well now, but will hold up another 3-5 years I would have thought

2004 vintage

Gave to Ben & Chris

2004 vintage

A bit one dimensional. Pepper, blackberry, blackcurrent, mulberry palette. Slightly rough palette without much sublety to the fruit. Long finish. Still drinking well, but should have drunk earlier to get more of the fruit inherent in the wine.

2008 vintage

This held up well! The tannins are softer but still present, the fruit a little tamped down, but overall it’s very tasty.

2008 vintage

Blackberries, blueberries, mocha, pencil shavings. Still fresh and sweet-fruited after 20 years under screw cap. Very well balanced for a big, ripe McLaren Vale. Good length and structure. Quality stuff. Improved over the evening - would suggest a decent decant. No rush to drink these. (93 Excellent wine)

2004 vintage

From screw cap, even better than my last bottle tasted in 2021. Had the 2014 and 2004 side by side and the 2004 towered over the 2014. Much ripper, richer, thicker wine. Notes of vanilla, tar blackberries, mocha dominate this fruit bomb. Ready drink but no rush as this monster can hold another 10 to 15 years easy.

2004 vintage

(magnum bottle) Wow, dark inky, black florals, lifted sweet leather, black fruit, juicy late cherry, woodspice, clove. Unctious and fully mature, soft silky tannins. With an hour, it opened really nicely, textural, silky, and gossamer. Airy, yet precise and powerful, elegant and balanced. No flagging despite the age - still powerful, even youthful. Looong finish, eucalypt, graphite, cigar box. Paired nicely with 3-cup chicken and porkbelly fried rice. Delight!

2004 vintage

Mint, caramel , licqorice , black berries. This one was perfect timing. Previous bottles from the same vintage have felt a little over the top, but this one was just perfectly ripe. I guess one should drink rather than keep though.

2004 vintage

First Wednesday Wine Club (Francobollo, Haberfield) : "Served blind Slightly reductive, black hued fruits, touch of sweet spice, smidgeon f chocolate, aniseed. Medium plus intensity acidity, juicy, fleshy, slightly reductive, black fruits; blackberry, tangy, tight, slightly drying tannins coarse flour textured tannins. Shiraz, McLaren Vale, 2016"

2004 vintage

In a lovely place. Still bright with lots of fruit, but not overwhelmingly so. Some savory notes and age are coming through. Well balanced

2004 vintage

Drink now or keep another fiveish years

2004 vintage

Fresh and bright, all the excesses have been resolved What’s left is a beautiful , balanced wine. Raspberries, currants , licorice. At 18, this wine is remarkable, with a long finish. Opened well for 30 minutes after decanting, but it then faded about 90 minutes later.

2004 vintage

Top - super nez de vieux Syrah australien

2008 vintage

Super concentrated liquorice and spice, black fruit still evident but perhaps starting to fade relative to my earlier bottles. Lovely now, no rush, but perhaps drink over the next couple of years before a gentle decline?

2004 vintage

Fully mature. Dark fruits on the nose, still with some tannins. Really nice and still with some life yet.

2004 vintage

Drinking very nicely now. A well balanced Aussie shiraz that is aging at a glacial pace. Very nice.

2004 vintage

Still big, still amazing

2004 vintage

Almost Bordeaux notes with pencil, chocolate , black berries etc. Would not have taken it for an Aussie Shiraz on the nose. However on the palate it was clear that this was not an old world wine. Excellent! Drink now, but will last another few years

2004 vintage

Nose like a 95 p wine but the taste is too thin and without any special character.

2008 vintage

Absolutely delish. Drinking perfectly: congrats to me for me for being able to hold off until the start of WWIII.

2008 vintage

Nice! Lovely nose , palate perhaps trying to catch up. Give this plenty of air. Has time ahead, but great drinking right now.

2008 vintage

On first tasting, a good nose and the colour is still quite deep and vibrant. Plenty of mature fruit on the juicy palate with raspberry and strawberry detected. Good balance with soft tannin and plenty of acidity to balance the fruit. It seemed softer and ‘sweeter’ as it opened, with a lovely balance of fruit and gentle vanilla notes (my son described it as clotted cream ice cream). It improved with time in the glass. Gorgeous wine and even better …

2008 vintage

spicy, coconut, eucalypt, cloves, full bodied, starting to move secondary but still plenty of time.

2008 vintage

Exploding nose of black and red cherries jam, meaty BBQ sauce... Very light taste of red berries, hint of tannin, quite short compared to the excellent nose!

2008 vintage

Cork was rooted.

2008 vintage

Decanted hour and a half. Outstanding wine. Dark fruit and anise. Super smooth and concentrated. Enjoyed with a ribeye. Felt like a $200 bottle. In 2021 definitely in its prime and drinking well no rush to drink the last bottle.

2008 vintage

Nose: 93 Palate: 88 Tasted blind. Funky (good) nose. Tannic palate.

2008 vintage

Pas dégusté en 5 ans, alors on ne savait pas trop à quoi s’attendre. Malgré son âge, c’est toujours une bombe de fruit. L’alcool est bien intégré (15%!), c’est long, charnu, mais vif avec une belle pointe d’acidité. Peut-être un manque de complexité et assez unidimensionnel. Le nez et la bouche s’accordent sur le fruit mûr, un peu confituré (pas trop), mais mince en notes secondaires. Un peu de poivre et de tabac, mais pas de torréfaction, alors l’usage du …

2008 vintage

this bottle was superb. Better than the last. Sadly my last.

2008 vintage

Moden og lækker. Alkohol i balance. Flot fadnote. Frugten er på vej væk og vinen er balanceret. Næsen minder om moden bordeaux, mens smagen er varm Nordrhone. Tydelig kvalitetsvin. Ingen grund til at vente.

2008 vintage

Great with BBQ Cote de Boueuf. Needs smoke and protein to reveal the complexity. Not great without them. Very enjoyable, but wouldn't buy again at this price.

2008 vintage

Very sappy and primary: the screw cap really makes these things age in slow motion. Big, dark and curranty, with hints of smoke and earth. Builds slowly and then snaps intensely on the finish with a spike of assertive tannin, big fruit and high acidiy. The obvious answer would be that longer aging will lead to better things to come, but if you're going to wait all the way to full maturity, you might be in for a super long …

2008 vintage

Big, bold and drinking beautifully tonight after just abit of air.

2008 vintage

The acidity was amazing and if tasted blind, might even guessed north Rhone, just simply so good that you keep pouring, has everything you want, though the spicyness of syrah did not show much.

2008 vintage

Better than before. Less powerful richness on fruit. But still a big and lovely wine

2008 vintage

Nice layers of ripe fruts, oak, eucalyptus on the nose. On the palate rich, with sweet cherries and plumsauce. Integrated and smooth tannin and acidity, really nice.

2008 vintage

Fruit forward and dark in colour. Magnificent drop. Had years left

2008 vintage

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d'Arenberg, The Dead Arm Shiraz, McLaren Vale

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