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What a stunning vintage this is. A beautifully earthy and spicy nose, followed by a mouthful of wild forest berries with a peppery finish. A fine example of McLaren Vale Shiraz indeed!
Winery notes:
The Footbolt Shiraz is a truly regional style, showing the depth, complexity and balance of McLaren Vale Shiraz. 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.
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 Shi-
raz. 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.
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.
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