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 - 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.
A Customer - SF Bay Area
I purchased a couple of bottles of this wine with very high expectation - I read and heard a lot about it. I opened it for about 20 minutes to let it breathe, and chose not to decant. Upon entering the glass, the rich, dark-ruby color was truly impressive (but not opaque). The nose (while still aerating) was magnificent (plum, cedar, spice, crushed berries). My wife, who is an amazing chef, prepared a rich, spicy vegetarian pasta with artichoke hearts, crushed red pepper, kalamata olives, and bellpeppers (a wonderful recipe). The flavors truly co-existed - offering a great complimentary pallete. After 1 hour, the Footbolt really opened up beautifully. The mid-palate was very smooth. I was blown away by the very nice cedary finish that lasted for almost a full minute! I believe this wine definitely holds the merit of the 90-point ratings from both Parker and WS. If you want to try an exceptional, bold, in-your-face New World-styled red, the 2001 Footbolt is a wonderful wine - and a great value.
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In the Cellar - 9/29/2010
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