Author: Dirk Chan
Our special this week is the 2020 d’Arenberg The Stump Jump Shiraz (McLaren Vale, Australia) – $14.99, regularly $18.49.
Since 1912 the Osborn family have grown grapes and made wine in the picturesque surrounds of McLaren Vale. Today, fourth generation family member Chester Osborn is at the winemaking helm, making distinctive wines using traditional methods in the winery and the vineyard.
The winery is famous for the d’Arenberg Cube, a cellar door unlike any other in the world – built in a shape of a rubiks cube. It is also renowned for the quirky names of their wines, and their specialism in the vines of the Rhône valley. Amongst the wine world, it is famous for its Dead Arm Shiraz made from fungus-infected shiraz grape vines that has left one of the branches dead while the other arm produces small and extremely concentrated grapes.
Our weekly feature this week is their Stump Jump Shiraz, It is rumoured that the inventor of the Stump Jump plough, which enabled a ploughshare to jump over tree roots, had poor eyesight and required regular tests to ensure he could still operate machinery. The design of this label is inspired by an optometrist’s eyechart and serves as a makeshift sobriety test. If you can hold the bottle at arm’s length and still read the front label, you can enjoy another glass, ha!
A generous and juicy Shiraz loaded with sweet red and black fruit. The nose opens with dark notes of black cherries and hints of cassis. The palate is loaded with black fruits, plums, mulberries with some aniseed and peppery spices. Fresh cherry and red berries. Fine and persistent tannins give this wine a sense of opulence. Very approachable in its youth. A wine built to drink in its early days. A wonderful expression of McLaren Vale Shiraz.
2020 d’Arenberg The Stump Jump Shiraz (McLaren Vale, Australia) – $14.99, regularly $18.49.