dArenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2013
As well as varietal dark fruits and spice, the nose features savoury characters of cooked meats, spices and cracked black pepper. The palate is robust and concentrated with great intensity. The fruit is more expressive on the palate with a touch of raspberry, plum, blackcurrant and blueberry with underlying spice and just a hint of savoury oak. The mineral silky tannins build nicely on the palate and provide good structure and impressive length.
90% Shiraz, 10% Viognier
Awards and Accolades
GOLD, BEST VALUE - China Wine & Spirits Awards GOLD - Korea Wine Challenge 2017
2012 Vintage: 95 Points - James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion "Matured in 50/50% French and American oak (8% new) for 20 months. It's odd how the co-fermentation of viognier can appear to intensify the regional signature, it's certainly written large here, but there's a spark of fresh fruit with a different pitch to its note. All this adds up to an impressive example of this key wine in the d'Arenberg menagerie."
From the Winery
The Kookaburra is a native Australian bird famous for its distinctive laughing call, Chester's young daughters named them 'Laughing Magpies'. The Magpie plumage is black with a stripe of white feathers, representing McLaren Vale's first ever blend combining the (black) Shiraz and its white partner, Viognier.
There was ample winter and spring rain which provided good sub soil moisture and resulted in healthy canopies and good vigour. Summer conditions were very mild. Grapes ripened gracefully with only a few small rain episodes, enough to keep the vines fresh and vibrant. Rainfall was only a little over average for the first months of the year.
Small batches of grapes are gently crushed and then transferred to open fermenters, where the Viognier and Shiraz are co-fermented. Foot treading is undertaken two thirds of the way through fermentation, the wine is basket pressed and transferred to a mixture of old French and American oak to complete fermentation and mature. The barrel ferments are aged on lees, there is no racking until final blending and no fining or filtration.
Don't Pay: $29.00
WBW Rating: 95/100
Closure: Stelvin
Region: McLaren Vale, SA