Wine & Spirits - February 2020 - 46

YEAR'S BEST MCLAREN VALE
mourvedre has the herbal perfume of anise,
along with a spicy note of cumin. The wine is
open and ripe, the flavors ranging from green
to red to a hint of raisins, held in tight focus
by its tannins. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
125081

92 | d'Arenberg

$29

2013 McLaren Vale Cenosilicaphobic Cat
Sagrantino Cinsault (Best Buy) ^ Chester
Osborn named this wine after his cat, Booze,
who enjoyed red wine but wasn't allowed to
drink it, and suffered from cenosilicaphobia,
which Osborn defines as the fear of an empty
glass. A blend of sagrantino and cinsault, it's
a brightly floral and jammy black wine that
manages to feel elegant. Cinsault may be
driving the tart, high-acid side of the wine,
meshing with sagrantino's brandied-blackcherry flavors. It ends tar-black and saline,
ready for slow-smoked beef ribs. § Old Bridge
Cellars, Napa, CA
124729

92 | Davey & Browne

$23

2016 McLaren Vale Vortex (Best Buy) ^
This is the first release from a collaboration
between Andrew Browne, who heads up Precept Wine, and Kym Davey of Shingleback
Estates in McLaren Vale. A blend of cabernet
sauvignon (87 percent) with tempranillo and
grenache from Shingleback's vineyards, it's
a brisk and gamey red, with brambly raspberry fruit that feels savory and rich. It's silky
and plump, with an herbal note that keeps
it fresh. Not complex, but delicious. (W&S
10/19) § Precept Wine, Seattle, WA
124909

92 | Koomilya

$100

2015 McLaren Vale Cabernet-Shiraz ^ Steve
Pannell was introduced to this vineyard on
Amery Road when he was making the wines
at Hardys. Two decades later, he convinced
the owners to sell it to him, and he released
his first wines from the 2013 vintage. Most
of this wine comes off 70-year-old cabernet
sauvignon vines; blended with shiraz, it
spontaneously fermented in open-top vats,
then aged for ten months in large oak. It's
an old-fashioned McLaren Vale red, complex
and spicy, with salty cherry flavors and
nuances of licorice. For pasta in a rich boar
sugo. § Vine Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
125074

91 | d'Arenberg

$20

2016 McLaren Vale d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache (Best Buy) ^ D'Arry's Original is one of the most consistent and consistently satisfying reds grown in South
Australia. D'Arry Osborn, Chester's father,
developed it in the 1950s, having joined the
family business in 1943 at the age of 16. It was
a time when most McLaren Vale vineyards
46

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2020

were devoted to grapes for fortified wines.
In 1959, d'Arry released his first d'Arenberg
Burgundy, with the red stripe on the label,
the blend of grenache and shiraz that would
become d'Arry's Original in 1993. Chester
makes it as his father did, in small opentop fermenters with headed-down boards
to keep the cap of grape skins submerged.
It's foot trod, basket-pressed and aged in a
mix of French oak barrels, emerging, with a
few years of bottle age, as a cool, floral, zesty
blend with crunchy heirloom-apple acidity
and funky, meaty edges to the tannins. A
firm and juicy red you could drink now or ten
years from now. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
124668

91 | d'Arenberg

$20

2015 McLaren Vale d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache ^ This is Chester Osborn's classic shiraz-grenache blend, which he grows at
estate vineyards that date to the 19th century.
Those old vines offer a traditional wine with
red-and-black-fruit depths infused with the
green stemminess of roses. This needs time
to integrate, but it's the kind of Australian
red that harks back to the days long before
critters and ripeness, with an authenticity to
its flavors that grounds it in McLaren Vale.
(W&S 10/19) § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
125024

90 | d'Arenberg

$65

2016 McLaren Vale The Ironstone Pressings ^ Built to age, this is named for the ironstone in the soil at the old-vine vineyards
where d'Arenberg grows the grenache, shiraz and mourvedre for this blend. It's made
in the family's traditional style, delivering an
austere and rustically tannic red that's saturated with black and purple plum flavor, the
fruit cool, the tannins warm. Those elements
will merge over the coming decade, deepening and expanding the wine's breadth of flavor. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
125083

90 | d'Arenberg

$29

90 | d'Arenberg

$29

red fruit. It's dense and soft, finishing clean,
with an herbal edge; for grilled lamb. (W&S
10/19) § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
124885

90 | Hickinbotham

$150

2017 McLaren Vale Clarendon Vineyard
The Peake Cabernet Shiraz ^ Named for
Edward John Peake, who planted a vineyard on these ridges above the town of Clarendon in the 1860s, this blend is floral and
spicy, with McLaren's contrast of elegance
and earthy rusticity. Its fragrant shiraz notes
last, while cabernet adds freshness and fine,
if substantial tannins. A wintry red to drink
fireside. § Majestic Imports, Santa Rosa, CA
123664

90 | Mitolo

$35

90 | Somos

$30

2015 McLaren Vale 7th Son ^ There may be
only five percent sagrantino in this blend
of grenache and shiraz, but it stands out in
the wine's Italianate spiciness. It's black and
sappy, edged in fig and plum-skin flavors,
with a little alcohol that will take well to a
chill. (W&S 4/19) § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
124918
2018 McLaren Vale Mazuelo Cinsaut ^ Ben
Caldwell and Mauricio Ruiz Cantú make
this from the Hatwell Vineyard, where they
harvest two rows each of carignan (mazuelo
in Rioja) and cinsault (cinsaut in Australia).
They coferment the grapes, keeping the
carignan as whole clusters, pressing it off the
skins before the fermentation is complete to
sustain the lightness in the wine. It's lithe
and airy at 11.3 percent alcohol, yet feels
generous in texture, bringing dusty pollen
scents and tight cranberry flavors to a clean
and refreshing end. For charcuterie. § Vine
Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ

SHIRAZ

2015 McLaren Vale The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier ^ Chester Osborn's tribute to the kookaburra, a black bird with a
white stripe, the Laughing Magpie blends
some white grapes (viognier) in the fermenter with shiraz. That viognier points up the
spicy perfume as well as the tannic weight of
the shiraz, a bloody, meaty, iron-bound combination that's rich and savory. Cellar it. § Old
Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
124670
2014 McLaren Vale The Laughing Magpie
Shiraz Viognier ^ This shiraz is cofermented
with viognier, brightening the wine's floral
scents and adding an orange-oil note to the

125029

94 | d'Arenberg

$65

2016 McLaren Vale The Dead Arm Shiraz ^
The Dead Arm is Chester Osborn's paean to
his old vines struggling with eutypa, a fun-

https://www.darenberg.com.au/the-dead-arm-16

Wine & Spirits - February 2020

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