Like a few people I've met along the booze highway I started out my professional life as a wine advisor at Oddbins. I'd always had a love for exploring the world of drink and had been a customer at Oddbins for a number of years. I just loved the way the stores were quirky, the staff laid back and personal. It really demistified and democratized the whole wine selection process. Now there was a store where I could go in and the staff would go "Nah, don't buy that, spend a quid more and buy this." Where I could go in on a weekend, taste some obscure wine from Italy and be exciting, fascinated and envigorated. Working for Oddbins meant my interest went from a passing hobby into a full scale addiction. I wanted to know about the grapes, the soil, the producers. How a grape in a "New World" country fared against the same grape in an "Old World" county. I was in awe on how you could declare a grape, a country, a region and maye a price and vintage from the nose and palate. And so Oddbins set forth, codeified and solidified my love for all things drink.
Anyway, I was looking through my wine cellar the other day and realised I had a double bottle of D'Arenburg Dead Arm Shiraz from 2005. So I opened it up, let it breath and drank it over a couple of days. Maybe later on in the year may crack open the whole lot and check out each years efforts.
Dead Arm 2005
Deep, heady and pungent fruit. Emphasis on depth and heady. Black fruit. Ripe blackberries. Upfront nose. So inviting. Sweet vanilla suggestion with a tart edge. Just a smattering of black pepper - cracked.
Beautifully lilting. Waltzes with poise and grace. Developed blackberry then to a sharp hint and hit of tartness again. That bitter-sweet you get with freshly picked fruit. A touch of herbacious green. A slight leather touch.
After a while all the flavours intensify and combine. The balance becoming increasingly refined. The acidity bitterness mellows and the leather tannins warm and soften.
No comments:
Post a Comment