2005 The Sticks and Stones

© David Bland

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Harvest Dates:
28 February – 27 April
Oak Maturation:
Old American oak barriques
Alcohol by Vol:
14.5%
Residual Sugar:
0.6 g/L
Titratable Acid:
6.9 g/L
pH:
3.46
Bottling Date:
6 June 2007
Chief Winemaker:
Chester d’Arenberg Osborn

Other Vintages

‘A fragrant array of predominantly red fruit aromas and flavours; medium-bodied, with silky mouthfeel and fine tannins.’

The inspiration behind this name came from the age-old proverb ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.’ The unusual and quirky names that d’Arenberg’s range of wines has never done the winery any harm. We also do use sticks (vine cuttings) planted into stony soils to produce the grapes that result in this wine.

The wines appearance has a deep, red brilliance about it. The aromas compared to previous years are more fragrant and flowery with a leafy mix of herbaceous, dark-red berries, cranberries, plums, fresh strawberry jam and violets. As the wine opens, aromatic notes of musk, violets, dark cherries, bush tomatoes and strong flowery notes come through with a background of spice and fine oak notes.
The palate is soft, alluring and bigger due to the Shiraz. The flavours are very elegant and have a dark red/earthy focus and as the wine opens the grenache cranberry notes become quite obvious. The mid palate is long with a lovely softness about it. A mix of red and black fruit evolve and is dominated with savoury fruit notes such as cherry and olive stones, kirsch-like notes, roasted dates and mineral notes as the tannins take hold on the finish.
The flavours linger and are balanced with edgy acidity and fine gritty mineral tannins which gives the wine a level of elegance that is different to previous vintages but it still retains its rich juicy end which is intrinsic to Sticks and Stones.

Vintage 2005 could be summarised as a vintage that ripened without interruptions. It was early, it was late. After a slightly dry winter, spring rains in November sent vines booming and set up a quick condensed flowering and set with good berry numbers. Summer was cool with intermitted rains throughout December and January on a fortnightly basis which made for a mild but steady lead up to harvest without interrupting veraison. Vigour was nominal due to only moderate reserves of soil moisture from a relatively dry winter which restricted shoot length. With the onset of autumn we experienced a burst of warm to hot, dry weather with above average day and night time temperatures throughout March, April and May which secured an early intake of every variety.
The resulting wines are very tight wines, with very good red fruit fragrance and lovely acidity. Crops were above average although slightly under 2004.

Concentrated bunches of Tempranillo, Grenache and Shiraz were gently crushed in our 'Demoisy' open mouthed, rubber-toothed crusher, and fermented in small batches in traditional headed-down open fermenters, followed by foot-treading.
The skins from the still fermenting wine were basket-pressed in our 19th century ‘Coq’ and ‘Bromley & Tregoning’ basket presses with fermentation completed in barrels. Maturation took place in French and American oak barriques for 10 months prior to bottling. Natural minimal processing ensures maximum flavour, which results in a harmless deposit in, and adhering to the bottle.