d'Arenberg King of the Vale

In 1912 Joseph Osborn, a teetotaller and director of Thomas Hardy and Sons, bought a well established vineyard in the hills of McLaren Vale. His son Francis Ernest (Frank) Osborn left medical school to tend the 78-hectare site and sold the grapes to neighbouring wineries until the family cellars were complete in 1928.

By 1943 Frank's son Francis d'Arenberg, universally known as d'Arry, returned from school to help his ailing father run the winery, and eventually took charge in 1957. It was d'Arry who bottled the first of the famous diagonal-red-stripe labelled wines in 1959 and d'Arenberg became a Down Under winery to reckon with.

The fourth generation, d'Arry's son Chester d'Arenberg Osborn, became chief winemaker in 1984 and quickly set about renovating d'Arenberg's aging cellars and its 19th century vineyards. In 1990, Chester was crowned McLaren Vale's Winemaker of the Year.

As modern as the new facility is, winemaking at d'Arenberg remains traditional and essentially one of small batches. That means most parcels of fruit are kept separate from harvest through fermentation, pressing and maturation in barrel or tank, leaving the winemaker a wealth of choices from which to create a given wine.

The grapes are crushed in an old rubber-toothed crusher, apparently so gentle that the inevitable vineyard lizard that gets caught during harvesting "usually makes good his or her escape slightly shaken but unharmed."

They still basket-press every wine at d'Arenberg -- a most gentle method of squeezing juice from the grape while extracting maximum flavour, colour and tannins. Finally, all of the reds are fermented in traditional wax-lined concrete open fermenters and a few open-top stainless-steel fermenters. The skins are kept submerged under the juice using traditional heading down boards, again to better extract the flavours, colour and tannin.

At d'Arenberg, it's all about soft, gentle winemaking and the results are impressive.

Here are my notes: We begin with two solid, mid-week labels that won't break the budget. The Stump Jump White 2002 (a clever blend of riesling, sauvignon blanc and marsanne) has a tasty, spicy, honey, mineral pear nose streaked with scents of fresh green apple. Soft, round and fruity it is built for uncomplicated sipping.

The matching The Stump Jump Red 2001 is a southern Rhone-like blend of grenache/shiraz/mourvèdre. Look for a spicy, peppery, black raspberry jam aromas with a touch of leather and floral notes. This is a dry, round, smooth red with peppery, mineral, gamey/raspberry flavours and a touch of dried mushroom. A fun, easy-drinking red.

D'Arenberg Grenache The Custodian 1999 is a big jump up the quality ladder. It's made from thick-trunked, deep-rooted, dry-farmed vines approaching 120 years of age. The family takes great pride in acting as "the custodian" of these legendary vines. Look for a spicy, brooding, meaty/gamey style red with licorice root, smoky prune, leather and raspberry jam flavours. The styling is rich, and elegant with the flavours savoury, spicy, Christmas pudding.

The Dead Arm Shiraz 2000 takes its name from the disease Eutypa Lata, or Dead Arm, that afflicts old vines and some of the oldest at d'Arenberg. The disease slowly reduces one of the "arms" of the vines to dead wood, which means the other arm of the vine tends to produce small volumes of incredibly concentrated and highly flavoured grapes.

Expect peppery, pencil-lead, saddle-leather notes with vanilla, blackberry jam and smoky, meaty coriander notes. This is rich, warm inviting shiraz with noticeable but ripe tannins and a jammy-vanilla, orange-rind, cola coriander finish. Impressive.

D'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache 2000, formerly known as d'Arry's Burgundy in the '60s, '70s and '80s, is always made with shiraz and grenache. The nose is aromatic with black-cherry jam, earthy licorice root, plum jam and a touch of mineral gamey notes. Similar flavours with orange spice and pepper mix effortlessly with its fruity, berry jam, mocha finish. Long and lovely.

We finish with d'Arenberg Vintage Fortified Shiraz 2000, an impressive port-style fortified wine. The first declared vintage of port at d'Arenberg was in 1928 and the winery has been sourcing shiraz for the wine from those same old vines ever since.

Look for a spicy, black pepper, blackberry jam nose streaked with pruny, resiny, smoky jasmine scents. It has a sweet, rich fiery entry that is warm and full-bodied. Intense black-cherry jam, vanilla and smoky licorice root flavours mark a very impressive, very Australian fortified wine. Will require a good five years aging to evolve but could be a hit now with the cigar group.

D'ARENBERG, MCLAREN VALE

Wine: The Stump Jump White 2002, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Price: $12.99
UPC: 9311832015003
Score: 14/20
Comments: Soft round easy-sipping honey/mineral/grapefruit

Wine: The Stump Jump Red 2001
Price: $12.99
UPC: 9311832314007
Score: 15/20
Comments: Easy-drinking, fun to sip spicy, peppery, black raspberry jam.

Wine: The Custodian Grenache 1999
Price: $24.99
UPC: 93118324392005
Score: 16.5/20
Comments: Spicy, brooding, licorice root, and dark fruit flavours.

Wine: The Dead Arm Shiraz 2000
Price: $54.99
UPC: 9311832391008
Score: 18.5/20
Comments: Pruny blackberry jam with vanilla, orange rinds and coriander.

Wine: d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache 2000
Price: $29.99 - Liberty Wine.
UPC: 9311832337006
Score: 17/20
Comments: Aromatic black cherry jam, licorice root, orange spice and pepper flavours.

Wine: Vintage Fortified Shiraz 2000
Price: $29.99 - Liberty Wine.
UPC: 9311832817003
Score: 17/20
Comments: Blackberry jam, smoky jasmine, vanilla and smoky licorice root flavours.