2007 The Footbolt

© Alan Moir

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"Sometimes the hearty, traditional reds of d’Arenberg, McLaren Vale are a tad too ‘rustic’ for fans of the sqeaky-clean modern Australian reds, but aficionados wouldn’t have them any other way. The Footbolt has dark berry, spice and earth characters in a medium-bodied, smooth, persistent package, finished with ripe, smooth tannins."

Before being renamed The Footbolt Shiraz in 1996, the Old Vine Shiraz (as it was then known) was the first wine to use the term ‘Old Vine’. When this became common practice it was changed again, this time in honour of a racehorse that changed the Osborn family forever. The founder of d’Arenberg, Joseph Osborn was a successful racehorse owner and Footbolt was the pride of his stable. In 1912 he made the hard decision to sell his stable of horses to start d’Arenberg, so it is only fitting we pay homage to Joseph and his prize horse, Footbolt.  

The nose is lifted, floral and pretty with red fruit, violets, a dusty earthiness and a subtle new leather character coming through as the wine opens up.

The palate is juicy, but restrained and medium bodied. Plums, blackcurrant, cherries and raspberry build to a peppery back palate with an underlying and appealing touch of nutmeg. The chewy tannins are well balanced and its all tied together with lively acidity.

Decanting this wine is recommended, especially when young to allow it to open up. It will age well for at least a decade if cellared correctly.

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 Footbolt Shiraz.

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

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. These batches remain separate until final blending.

Foot treading is undertaken near the end of fermentation followed by gentle basket pressing. The wine is 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 is 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 Footbolt does not undertake fining or filtration prior to bottling.

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