2007 The Love Grass
McLaren Vale Shiraz
© Peter MacMullen
Awards and Accolades
2004 The Love Grass Shiraz
2004 The Love Grass Shiraz
Technical Information
28 January 2009
Chief Winemaker
Senior Winemakers
Jack Walton
Other Vintages
2004 The Love Grass Shiraz Tasting Note > 2006 The Love Grass Shiraz- screw cap.pdf >"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 Story Behind The Name
Love Grass grows wildly 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. The additional varieties in this wine 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.
The Characteristics
The nose is wonderfully complex and inviting with a mixture of spice, pepper, cedar, floral blossoms and a touch of capsicum tied together by a subtle roasted coffee bean aroma.
The palate is equally complex and focused, opening with red fruits, licorice and violets and building layer on layer to cracked pepper and nuances of dark chocolate and spice. There is great length with fine powdery fruit tannins and a lingering cinnamon character.
The palate is linear and balanced and drinking extremely well now. If cellared correctly it will continue to evolve for at least a decade.
The Vintage
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 for many of the dry grown vineyards that contribute to The Love Grass .
Moderately warm weather followed to ripen the fruit in low stress conditions that resulted in good flavour concentration and excellent levels of natural acidity.
The Winemaking
Walking the vineyard rows and tasting grapes, Chester Osborn classifies and determines the ideal picking time for each individual vineyard.
Small batches were crushed in the Demoisy open-mouthed, rubber toothed crusher and then transferred to five tonne headed-down open fermenters. These batches remained separate until final blending.
Foot treading was undertaken for certain batches near the end of fermentation followed by gentle basket pressing. The wine was then transferred to a mixture of new and old French and old American oak and large casks to complete primary and secondary fermentation. The barrel fermented component was aged on lees for added complexity with no racking until final blending.
Chester and the winemaking team undertake an extensive barrel tasting process to determine the final blend. The Love Grass does not undertake fining or filtration prior to bottling.