d'Arenberg d'Arrys Original Shiraz/Grenache 2005

This wine is named in honur of d'Arenberg's principal, Francis d'Arenberg Osborn, universally known as d'Arry.

d'Arry's Original is very much a traditional style of wine, being rich, lucious and opulently soft and very much an expression of terroir and variety which ages spectacularly. The final blend varies from year to year in an effort to maintain the well-established hallmarks of d'Arry's Original.

In its youth d'Arry's Original display a bright magenta like brick red colour. The nose invariably attacks with lifted spicy cinnamon plum, mulberry & prune aromas. Typically cherry, wild strawberry & lolly-like musk smells also, as well as tighter liquorice, spice, rosemary & fennel smells.

Hints of coffee & caramel on the nose are usually quite evident on the palate; a backdrop for cherry-raspberry & richer mulberry-blackberry primary fruit. The palate is typically d'Arenberg & McLaren Vale, soft & rich in the middle, rolling on to a soft but slightly piquant acid/tannin finish.

Coffee, mocha, chocolate & leather emerge as dominant older fruit aromas flavours alongside gamey, earthy, cedar like & minty smells. The classic hallmark of peppery-spicy character develops & the velvety texture remains. Occasionally, dried sour cherry aromas & ever so slightly bitter blackberry tannin on the palate develop, increasing the wine's food applicability.

Well cellared, d'Arry's Original becomes, soft, generous, full flavoured, velvety long & seamless in bottle, with no particular component standing out, as more than four decades of previous vintages have shown.

Serve at room temperature 16 – 24 ºC. now or over the next 3 – 20 years with grilled or barbecued meats, potato based dishes, dishes with noodles, rice pasta, cous cous, served with beef, veal or lamb. Roast meats and mature cheese.