d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz Magnum 2004

After excellent winter rains and then a warm wet spring the vineyards were set for a good start to vintage. Flowering was consistent, for the first time crop sizes looked more normal than previous years. We experienced the coldest January for 12 years followed by a warm to hot February and mild March which carried on into April to eventually become a very long Indian summer. As vintage proceeded the vineyards with rich, dense soils ripened with good acidity and weight. Berries were turgid, and expressed excellent fruit characters and rich, ripe tannins. While some early picked parcels of red varietals were exciting, free of mould, good sugar acid ripeness it was the vineyards picked in the mid to latter stages of harvest produced substantially bigger and beautifully balanced parcels of fruit with outstanding colour, levels of flavour richness and tannin structures