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d’Arenberg is throwing its support behind International Grenache Day on September 24 with specialised tastings at cellar door and specially developed dishes at d’Arry’s Verandah Restaurant.
Despite being one of the most widely planted varieties in the world, Grenache struggles for recognition, something International Grenache Day hopes to change. The idea was born out of the inaugural Grenache Symposium held in early June in the south of France.

d’Arenberg Chief Winemaker and Viticulturist, Chester Osborn, was at the international think tank along with other top producers and some of the world’s leading wine journalists. He believes International Grenache Day will help raise the profile of the much misunderstood variety. 

“Once people taste a good Grenache they are sold, but the challenge lies in getting them to try it,” Chester said. “As a variety it has wonderfully fresh, sweet red fruits, beautiful spices and balanced lively tannins. It’s a great blending wine, but also makes brilliant single variety wines.” 

d’Arry’s Verandah Restaurant chefs, Peter Reschke and Nigel Rich, have constructed a special dish with a matching The Derelict Vineyard Grenache flight. The special dish will be available for the week starting September 20 and conclude on September 26. As a special treat all guests dining at d’Arry’s Verandah for the week will receive a complimentary Grenache inspired Amuse Bouche with a tasting of The Custodian Grenache 2007.

The d’Arenberg cellar door in McLaren Vale will have an even greater emphasis on Grenache for the week of September 20 to 24. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste a selection of verticals of d’Arenberg Grenache wines including The Ironstone Pressings Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre. The week will culminate with two free structured tastings and a tour of Grenache vineyards and the winery with a d’Arenberg winemaker.

Free d’Arenberg Grenache Tasting with Vineyard and Winery Tour
24 September 2010
11am and 3:30pm
Bookings  via Rachael Whitrow, Cellar Door Manager
p- 08 8329 4828
e – rwhitrow@darenberg.com.au

d’Arry’s Verandah Restaurant
Available 20 to 26 September
Bookings Essential – 08 8329 4848
Main Dish - $40 including wine flight
Lapin au Vin – Rabbit, slowly braised in Grenache with local smoked bacon, shallots and mushrooms
Wine Flight
2004, 2005 & 2007 The Derelict Vineyard Grenache

Complimentary Amuse Bouche – Available 20 to 24 September
d’Arry’s Dorper Lamb Bresaola Crostini with Smoked Tomato Sorbet with a taste of the 2007 The Custodian Grenache

For more information please contact:
Luke Tyler
Communications Manager
p- 08 8329 4874
e- ltyler@darenberg.com.au

The annual release of The Australian Wine Companion is keenly anticipated by imbibers and wineries alike. The doyen of Australia's wine media has once again delivered. The Australian Wine Companion contains an impressive collection of succinctly crafted tasting notes from an ever expanding list of wineries.

The d'Arenberg stable of wines has once again received high praise from Mr. Halliday, maintaining its red five star rating reserved for, as he describes, "truly the best of the best."

Not surprisingly the newly released The Dead Arm Shiraz 2007 leads the charge with 94 points, entering the category of "Wines of the highest quality, often with  a distinguished pedigree. " Joining The Dead Arm Shiraz in this illustrious category are The Feral Fox Pinot Noir 2008,  The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2008 and The Cadenzia GSM 2008.

There were 12 other wines reviewed, all scoring 90 points or more, which James describes as "Wines of great quality, style and character, worthy of a place in the cellar." There are a number of wines that are on the same vintage from the 2010 edition of the Australian Wine Companion and thereforehave not been re-published.

To read the full d'Arenbeg reviews please see the attached document. James Halliday has also released an iPhone version of the book which is a great resource for wine lovers.  

Selector Magazine journalist Jackie Macdonald manages to capture the essence of d'Arenberg in this wonderful story which features some great vintage photos by Andy Rasheed. 

"d'Arry and Chester have set an incredibly high benchmark for succeeding generations to follow, so the question is, will Chester's daughters rise to the challenge? Although Chester would love to see them continue the tradition, at only six, 10 and 13 years old, they're undecided on their future. But if they have half the creativity, vision and talent of their father and grandfather, the d'Arenberg dynasty will be in safe hands." 

Used by permission from the Winter 2010 issue of Selector Magazine. To subscribe to Selector click here.

We had right on average rainfall for the year but lots of it fell in Autumn when the soil cracks had not closed so the clay soils gained more than normal (sandy soils let most of the water in all of the time). Winter was quite cool but bud burst and flowering was early. A heat wave at flowering decimated the crop of Grenache and reduced set on Chardonnay and some Cabernet Sauvignon, however all other varieties set well.

Vigour is beautifully balanced with no need to water on many soils. Crop levels are very low for Grenache (many being 0.5 tonne to the acre), and Chardonnay came in at two tonnes to the acre on average, but all other varieties are normal. January was very dry and there was some heat at veraison which works well. Ripening has been mild with most days around or below 30 degrees with only a little rain about three quarters of the way through harvest. Nights have been cool to mild as a whole.

The white varieties of Riesling, Chardonnay, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne are showing strong varietal characteristics with the Adelaide Hills wines looking excellent.

All the crops appear balanced and the red varieties are hugely exciting. The skins are very thick and dark with a good level of tannin. Early picked Shiraz is peppery with elegance and lots of length. Cabernet shows outstanding varietal character and tannin. Despite low crop levels Grenache is strong with loose clusters producing dark and very varietal concentrated wines with nearly all berries being shrivel free. Berries have been turgid which always makes great wines. The vintage started about a week early but as it stayed dry and with balanced vines it was stress free and the grapes came on faster than normal. Sugar levels for most reds needed to be at the higher end of the scale to get the best flavour, however Grenache worked well not too ripe. The Pinot Noir from the Adelaide Hills looks great with lots of character although yields will be down due to some rain and weevil damage. The finish will be earlier than usual with the usual suspects coming in last, Mourvèdre then Petit Verdot.

Writing in Melbourne's The Age newspaper respected wine journalist Jeni Port gives away some Australia Day awards of her own. For 'services to wine and fun' Jeni awards fourth generation d'Arenberg winemaker Chester Osborn with the highest honour of 'Companion of the Order of Australian Wine' (AWC).  

Jeni explains her choice:

"Chester always enjoys himself and it's infectious. Sometimes we forget that wine doesn't have to be serious and can be a bloody good, light hearted drink. Who else would release a wine called the Cenosilicaphobic Cat in honour of his ginger moggie, who loved a tipple?"

While not quite the same as the Order of Australia Medal that his father d'Arry Osborn received in 2004,(something that d'Arry will be sure to remind him) it is a fitting accolade all the same.  

Chester Osborn AWC

Check out the full article here. 

Download a copy of the Redstripe Pressings to catch up with all of the weird and wonderful things that have been happening at d'Arenberg.

d'Arenberg's The Dry Dam Riesling from McLaren Vale has featured on the popular American show Today. 

Wine guest Gary Vaynerchuk (from Wine Library TV) pairs three wines with three dishes. The Dry Dam is paired with 'butternut squash' with all hosts raving about it.

Watch it for yourself here.

Being a small family owned winery we are happy if we make the cover of anything, from the local rag to Bacon Buster. So we had broad smiles when d’Arry and Chester featured on the cover of WBM - Australia’s Wine Business Magazine with an amazing 12 page feature. Editor Anthony Madigan opens the story with “When your wines are as good as d’Arenberg’s and you’ve won just about every prize worth winning including over a thousand medals, the chief winemaker can wear whatever he likes.” 

It's a great read and can be donloaded here.

Australia’s First Families of Wine was launched on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on 31 August 2009. The historic initiative involves 12 leading multi generational family owned wineries from around Australia joining forces. All members share a passion for raising the profile of Australian wines as age-worthy artisanal creations of individual beauty and rarity. 

d’Arenberg certainly fits this criteria and joins distinguished industry stalwarts in telling the story of fine Australian wine to the world in a manner not yet seen. Australia’s First Families of Wine includes Brown Brothers; Campbell’s; De Bortoli; Henschke; Howard Park; Jim Barry; McWilliam’s; Tahbilk; Taylors; Tyrrell’s and Yalumba

Combined the group has more than 1200 years of winemaking experience with over 5,500 hectares of some of the most precious and iconic vineyards in the country. All members must produce an Icon wine and the list includes some of the most sought after wines in Australia. 

“Family ownership allows for greater expression and stylistic freedom and the AFFW group reflects that with some amazing wines with true personality and individuality,” Chester Osborn said.

The ABC's Landline program ran a story on 11 October 2009 which can be viewed here.

Find out more about Australia's First Families of Wine here.

d’Arenberg was awarded as a Winery of the Year by the USA publication Wine & Spirits Magazine. Each year the tasting panel reviews more than 9,000 wines blind and passes the best onto the critics. The Winery of the Year accolade is reserved for wineries that score at the top of their categories reflects the strength of the entire d’Arenberg portfolio across all categories and price points.

Wine & Spirits Editor Joshua Greene describes The Footbolt Shiraz 2006 as "pure soil driven funk" and had this to say of the range: "Whether you go for The Derelict Vineyard Grenache, The Sticks and Stones red or The Noble Wrinkled Riesling, the wine may have an unusual name, but it's bound to be delicious."

The Footbolt Shiraz 2006 was also named as one of the 100 Buys of the Year in the same edition.

The latest volume of influential Japanese manga comic Les Gouttes de Dieu (Drop of the Gods) has featured its first Australian wine in d’Arenberg’s The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2006, causing an influx of orders. 

The cartoon is a best seller in Japan and Korea and has been a revelation in wine communication with translations into multiple Asian languages as well as French. It follows the story of Kanzaki Shizuku, the son of a recently deceased wine critic who has placed conditions on the inheritance of his significant cellar. 
Shizuku must compete with Toomie Issei, an adopted son of his late father and young wine critic in finding specific wines that his father described as “The 12 Apostles”.

The story picks up with the main character Shizuku (who works for a Japanese Importer) in Australia searching for three wines when they come across The Laughing Magpie 2006. Impressed with the trophies, they are even more surprised to find a wine so good under screwcap with Shizuku saying “I didn't expect much from a wine under screwcap,” before describing it as “spicy and overflowing with energetic life. It's both exotic and made for normal people at the same time,” and deciding to stock it in his shop.

Writing in the Weekend Australian Magazine, John Lethlean and Necia Wilden compiled a list of their favourite restaurants with the right blend of service, food and ambience. 

d'Arry's Vernadah Restaurant  was the only South Australian to make the list which was very heavily weighted to Melbourne and Sydney.

Here's what they had to say:

"Winemaker Chester Osborn is the fourth generation at d’Arenberg winery, so it’s not surprising that the family’s restaurant, d’Arry’s Verandah, with its beautiful views over McLaren Vale, has been going strong since 1996: longevity is in the blood. So, too, is dedication to unceasing quality from chefs Peter Reschke and Nigel Rich, whose ideas and culinary style still seem as fresh as the day they started.

Why? Because this is some of the best food served by some of the most unpretentious staff, you will find anywhere in South Australia, including the capital. Whether they’re playing with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Asian ingredients, the boys hit the sweet spot with generous, exuberant flavours and a special talent for seafood. Hugely enjoyable.”

Find out more about d'Arry's Verandah restaurant at www.darrysverandah.com.au

As much as he loves to win wine show trophies, nothing gives d'Arenberg Principal d'Arry Osborn more pleasure than hooking a big fish. 

Recently on a fishing trip with two mates he managed to reel in a massive snapper off the Coffin Bay coast. It was caught using 80lb line with a squid head as bait. It took over 15 minutes to reel it in, but the effort was well worth it according to d'Arry.

"It was a beauty, it was so big that we had to chop off the head and tail to fit it in the fridge," d'Arry said. 

"We couldn't weigh it, but everyone there thought it was at least 25 to 30lb (11 to 13kg).  

"I made a soup out of the fins and head and we chopped the rest into steaks.Nigel and Peter from d'Arry's Verandah Restaurant shared their recipe for baked snapper with white bean mash and we had a nice bottle of Olive Grove Chardonnay to accompany it.

"Of course that was only a small piece of the fish so Chester and I have some in our freezers, which should last us a while."

Download the recipe for d'Arry's Verandah Restaurant's baked snapper steak with white bean mash and grab a bottle of Olive Grove Chardonnay.