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2014 - 2022
D’Arenberg’s flagship is the 2006 The Dead Arm Shiraz. Opaque purple-colored, the nose is reticent but gives up aromas of meat, bacon, game, truffles, blueberry, and blackberry. Firm, layered, and complex, this beautifully rendered Shiraz demands a decade of cellaring. It will be superb from 2018 to 2036. 95+/100. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Feb 2009
Dead Arm Shiraz is one of the iconic wines of South Australia and has been one of the standard-bearers of the McLaren Vale for over a decade. The new vintage release of 2006 is considered to be one of the finest releases in the history of its production.
The Dead Arm rarely fails to deliver an uncompromising essay on McLaren fruit; deeply concentrated with levels of dark chocolate, blackberry, nuances of florals and a freshness that belies its weight and power. Good value. 95/100 James Halliday
"93 out of 100...Inky violet. Vibrant, perfumed nose melds blackberry, cassis, kirsch, licorice and dried flowers. On the palate, this shiraz shows an intriguing mix of sweet dark fruit flavors and firmer earth and mineral notes, with big but supple tannins contributing structure. The palate-staining finish features notes of bitter cherry, cured tobacco and high-octane chocolate. Nothing obvious here." – Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar 93/100
More Info on d’Arenberg Dead Arm
The Story Behind The Name Dead Arm is a vine disease caused by the fungus Eutypa Lata that randomly affects vineyards all over the world. Often vines affected are severely pruned or replanted. One half, or an ‘arm’ of the vine slowly becomes reduced to dead wood. That side may be lifeless and brittle, but the grapes on the other side, while low yielding, display amazing intensity.
The Characteristics Dead arm is a wine with a very dark, vibrant, polished appearance, with a dense red crimson hue. The aroma upon opening is always elegant showing superb fruit characters dominated with red fruits, plum, spices, red cherries, cranberry, white and green pepper and blueberry notes against a back drop of very fine oak. The flavours are ripe; red fruits, cherries, plums and black olives with edges of dried garden herbs. As the wine opens the palate is extremely tight and controlled. In many ways the 2006 wine is more elegant than previous vintages with tannins that have a wonderful mineral grittiness that is balanced right to the wine’s pointed finish.
The Cellaring Potential “This wine will be relatively closed and backward in style if not allowed some opportunity to develop in the bottle. After time in bottle, ‘The Dead Arm’ gains a biscuity, cinnamon, chocolate, earthy, eucalyptus-based bouquet on top of rich blackberry pie aromas. Tobacco, mushroom, malt and earth aromas play a part on the long, fleshy, chocolate-mint and spice flavours. This wine will develop with a great balance of tannins, acidity and fruit. Classic McLaren Vale Shiraz…Drink 2012 – 2020. “ Chester Osborn, Winemaker
The Vintage The quality of vintage 2006 was very good across most varieties with fruit characters noticeably fragrant with good acidity and excellent length of flavour. The lead up to vintage was uneventful with average winter rain followed by heavy rains in spring that resulted in vines with healthy, balanced canopies on most soils. A mild, early, summer leading into a warmer period during veraison stopped vegetative growth allowing vines to channel energy into the fruit. A prolonged cool period occurred after veraison in February with some rain which enabled the fruit to ripen without any stress. Finally the warmth returned in March with cool evening temperatures to complete ripening in almost perfect conditions enhancing fruit flavour and richness without diluting levels of natural acidity. Picking was staggered with many parcels picked in wonderful autumn conditions.
The Winemaking Each batch of fruit received is gently crushed in our Demoisy open-mouthed, rubber-toothed crusher so as many of the berries as possible remain whole. After crushing, the must is transferred to open fermenters where the seeds and skins are permanently submerged beneath the free run juice. The must receives no plunging or pumping over while fermentation occurs. Once the primary fermentation is nearly complete, traditional foot-treading takes place prior to basket-pressing. The wine is then transferred to barrel to complete its primary and secondary fermentation. After 20 months every barrel is individually assessed for quality. Only the best barrels are selected to be bottled as The Dead Arm Shiraz.
HarperWells is pleased to offer other wines from the D'Arenberg winery; the full list may be accessed by clicking here. If you would like further information on these or any of the other wines supplied by HarperWells please do not hesitate to call the HarperWells office on 0844 335 8324 or email sip@harperwells.com