2007 The Twenty-Eight Road

© Rolf Heinman

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Harvest Dates:
15 March – 12 April
Oak Maturation:
12 Months in French Oak Barriques
Alcohol by Vol:
14.5%
Titratable Acid:
6.9 g/L
pH:
3.34
Bottling Date:
23 April 2008
Chief Winemaker:
Chester d’Arenberg Osborn
Senior Winemaker:
Jack Walton

Other Vintages

"A great Mourvèdre This is the wine of a winery on song. It’s pure, warm, interesting, full of flavour and yet structured and savoury too. A Mourvèdre with the lot, please. It taste of tar, violets, orange blossom, kirsch and boysenberries. It’s a boomer. A tannin structure to die for. 95 POINTS"

Twenty-Eight Road acts as the eastern boundary of the Osborn vineyard and the d’Arenberg winery. Most of the grapes for this wine are sourced from a 3.6 acre block of bush vine Mourvèdre that runs parallel with Twenty-Eight Road. It was planted in 1920 by the first and second generation Joseph and Frank Osborn. As the winery has expanded this block has been protected as it represents the history of d’Arenberg and produces this very special and unique wine.

The aroma opens with cherries and blackberry that make way for characters of charcuterie with a floral background of violets, potpourri and a touch of lavender.

The palate is focused and shows restraint with fruits in the red spectrum well in check and balanced with defining savoury characteristics of ripe dried herbs, roasted vegetables, cooked meats and a pleasant and varietal iodine character.

The palate builds with thyme adding complexity to the finish with long gritty tannins. Tightly structured this wine will reward cellaring. Decanting recommended.

Owing largely to drought and a warm start to Summer, the 2007 vintage started extremely early. These conditions caused short shoot length and reduced berry and bunch sizes.

In late January a 50mm downpour reduced yields further, but was a welcome relief.

Moderately warm weather followed to ripen the fruit in low stress conditions that resulted in good flavour concentration and excellent levels of natural acidity.

Despite being a tannic year this wine is nicely balanced. This is achieved by a very hands on and gentle winemaking approach

Walking the vineyard rows and tasting grapes, Chester Osborn classifies and determines the ideal picking time for each individual vineyard.

Small batches are crushed in the Demoisy open-mouthed,
rubber toothed crusher and then transferred to five tonne headed-down open fermenters.

Foot treading is undertaken two thirds of the way through
fermentation. When tannin extraction is just right the wine is basket pressed and transferred to old French oak barriques to complete primary and secondary fermentation. In barrel the wine is left on lees to slow aging and keep the wine fresher while also reducing the oak influence. There is no racking until final blending.

Chester and the winemaking team undertake an extensive
barrel tasting process to determine the final blend. The
Twenty-Eight Road does not undertake fining or filtration prior to bottling.

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