d'Arenberg Footbolt Shiraz 2001
Syrah/Shiraz
from McLaren Vale, Australia
winemaker's notes:
Outstanding dark, rich, intense and spicy Aussie Shiraz. Four decades of young d'Arenberg Shiraz have been very consistent in color, a deep red-purple, then the immediate hallmarks of spicy, lifted ripe peppery mulberry and blackberry fruit aromas. Richer chocolate, stewed plum mint and spicy, cedary pepper smells and often cinnamon follow the initial attack of primary fruit characters.
The Footbolt Shiraz palate is consistently well structured as a young wine, with terrific fruit and oak tannin providing great texture to support plum, blackcurrant and rolling blackberry flavors especially on the mid-palate. Often dark chocolate characters are quite evident too. This is followed by a traditional, long, velvety, fine-grained tannin finish.
On the tongue, The Footbolt Shiraz maintains a wonderfully textured palate with significant bottle age. Gentle, grainy black olive flavors balance the sweeter coffee, chocolate and occasional mint characters. Malty, earthy and distinctly savory characters on the rich middle palate dominate against soft tannin and piquant acidity.
user reviews:
The top 3 most liked reviews for this wine.
A Customer - Ontario, Canada
A very nice purplish-red in glass, not opaque. A beautiful nose of raspberry, blackberries and chocolate. Chololate, currant and raspberry prevalent on the palate as well, smooth velvet finish. Will benefit from another 2 years plus in cellar. We enjoyed with 5 & 7 year cheddars, but will support much stronger cheeses. Also accompanied a hearty French-Canadian beef stew very well. Very well worth buying a case. An excellent bargain at $19.95CDN.
A Customer - Lake Worth, FL
I felt that this wine was a model example of the shiraz variety. It tasted distinct from a cabernet and merlot. I advise people to decant with a funnel and screen due to the unusual amount of sediment in the bottle.
I enjoyed this bottle, so much, with lamb. This bottle is a value fit for a case!
A Customer - Upstate New York
We had a bottle of this a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it until we reached the bottom of the bottle. I've never found so much sediment in a bottle of wine. The last glass had about 1/4" of sediment in the bottom and there was still more in the bottle. A very good wine and maybe this one with the sediment was the exception but be advised.
