Winemaker Notes
The nose is very aromatic, floral and youthful. There is a fascinating amount of intensity that draws you back. The lavender floral notes along with plum and blackberries are the most pronounced while the enigmatic beauty of this wine lies in the next layer of extremely alluring pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and hint of five spice.
The opulent palate is rich and dense with staggering concentration. Crushed ants, rhubarb, and deep earth add to the complexity. The chewy tannins are abundant and balanced by the fruit power. Building through the palate the tannins provide for a long, vibrant, savoury and spicy finish.
The Dead Arm Shiraz 2007 manages to balance focus and complexity superbly . The structure is muscular and the fruit powerful, yet it maintains a pretty elegance which is allowed to flourish with deft use of oak.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The Dead Arm is Chester Osborn's punchdrunk love song to his most ancient and physically challenged shiraz vines. Even in McLaren's difficult 2007 vintage, they produced a pretty astonishing wine. Its succulent raspberry flavor meets vibrant and sweet mineral character as the tannins sweep into the finish. Concentrated, supple and powerfully rich, this is a wine to buy in magnum and to serve at ten years of age with grilled lamb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
D'Arenberg's flagship is the 2007 The Dead Arm Shiraz. Opaque purple-colored, the nose gives up aromas of meat, game, truffles, chocolate, blueberry, and blackberry. Firm, layered, and complex, this beautifully rendered Shiraz demands 5-7 years of cellaring. It will be at its best from 2015 to 2027.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.