2017 d'Arenberg Shiraz Dead Arm McLaren Vale 750 ml

D’Arenberg is one of Australia’s most iconic brands. The century-old winery has taken home Australia’s most prestigious red-wine award, been named one of the country’s five best by Wine & Spirits, and their marquee bottling—the widely beloved Dead Arm Shiraz—stands with the greatest wines made down under, including Penfolds, Henschke, and Glaetzer.

The man behind Dead Arm, winemaker Chester Osborn, is quirky, brilliant, and one of the largest personalities in the wine industry. As the fourth-generation scion of one of Australia’s “First Families of Wine,” he’s a genius at evoking thrilling, visceral expressions of the mineral-rich soil and the extremely low-yielding ancient vines’ intensity.

Little about the d’Arenberg’s winemaking has changed since 1928, when Chester’s great-grandfather, recognizing the McLaren Vale’s incredible vinicultural pedigree, established the winery for the vines he’d bought 16 years earlier. Chester—who until 2022 was accompanied by his late, legendary father D’Arry—works in the traditional style, employing submerged cap fermentation, foot-treading, and basket-presses for the grapes. In the vineyards, minimalism reigns, with no fertilizers used, little to no irrigation, and no tilling or cultivation. 

Grapes in McLaren Vale experience the full ripening power of the bright Southern Hemisphere sun, but cool breezes mitigate vineyard temperatures, resulting in grapes of massive opulence cut with vibrant acidity. d’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz is named for the vine disease Eutypa Lata, which kills one half (or one “arm”) of the grapevine—but the other side gives off grapes of phenomenal intensity. 

The wine is a thrilling, visceral expression of d’Arenberg’s mineral-rich soil and extremely low-yielding ancient vine intensity. It’s one of the great collector wines of the New World, and you’ll be thrilled to have it in your cellar.