2006 The Love Grass

© Peter MacMullen

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"Though it is mostly shiraz, winemaker Chester Osborn gets his blending groove on adding small amounts of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, grenache, petit verdot, tempranillo and pinot noir. Full-bodied wine with aromas of black plums and mint."

The Love Grass is a wild grass that often grows in the vineyards surrounding the winery. During vintage, the sticky, long stemmed flowers of the Love Grass affectionately attach themselves to the vineyard workers’ socks. They even get caught in the coat of the winery dog, Coco, and have to be brushed out by chief winemaker, Chester Osborn. These alternatives varieties cling to Shiraz the same way that the Love Grass does making a complex and food friendly Shiraz that is only found at the d’Arenberg cellar door and selected restaurants.

As a young wine The Love Grass has a dense dark appearance with a crimson red hue. A mix of complex layered aromas is initially dominated by Satsuma plum, mulberry, black olive with emerging fragrances of spices such as anise, curry powder, cardamom and wonderful tight floral notes with cedar coming through as the wine opens up.

The palate is beautifully crafted, precise and extremely controlled with rich, juicy, fragrant red fruits. It’s dry and punchy. Very focused and the balance between fruit, oak, tannins and acidity makes this young wine very drinkable. Freshly juiced plums, cherries and blueberries show themselves first before a backbone emerges with notes of licorice and blackcurrant leaf, dark chocolate and dates mixed with firm savoury tannins and vibrant acidity. Delicious!

The quality of vintage 2006 was very good across most varieties with fruit characters noticeably fragrant with good acidity and excellent length.

Average winter rain followed by heavy rains in spring resulted in vines with a healthy, balanced canopy. 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 in February with some rain which enabled the fruit to ripen without stress. 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.

Each batch of fruit received is crushed in our gentle Demoisy open-mouthed, rubber-toothed crusher so as much of the berries as possible remain whole. The must is then transferred to our open fermenters where the seeds and skins are permanently submerged beneath the free run juice. The must receives no plunging or pumping over while the juice is fermenting on its skins for up to 14 days. Prior to the ferment reaching 3° beaume the must is foot-trod in the fermenter before being basket pressed. Primary fermentation is completed in barrel where the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged partially on solids with no racking until blending.

None of our reds such as The Love Grass undertake any filtration or finning prior to bottling.