d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie

The vineyards and bushland that surround the d’Arenberg winery are home to the native Australian bird, the Kookaburra, famous for its distinctive laughing call. Much to the amusement of the family, Chester Osborn’s daughters, Alicia and Ruby, named two wild Kookaburras who regularly visited their house the “Laughing Magpies”. The Magpie plumage is black with a stripe of white feathers and bears no resemblance to its famous cousin, but to this day the name has stuck. The Osborn’s thought the name was a good choice for McLaren Vale’s first ever Shiraz Viognier blend combining the (black) Shiraz and its white partner, Viognier.

As well as varietal dark fruits and spice, the nose features savoury characters of cooked meats, spices and cracked black pepper. The palate is robust and concentrated with great intensity. The fruit is more expressive on the palate with a touch of raspberry, plum, blackcurrant and blueberry with underlying spice and just a hint of savoury oak. The mineral silky tannins build nicely on the palate and provide good structure and impressive length. This wine will benefit from bottle age and if cellared correctly will drink well over the next 15 years.