d’Arenberg ‘The Laughing Magpie’ Shiraz/Viognier 2018, McLaren Vale, Australia

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. 2018 vintage – Very perfumed, black and red berries. A vibrant concoction. the Shiraz brings black fruits, plums, black cherries, and the small parcel of co-fermented Viognier brings stone fruits like peach and a touch of apricot. This makes for a very savory and harmonious bond between the two varieties. Small batches of grapes are gently crushed and then transferred to open fermenters, where the Viognier and Shiraz are co-fermented. Foot treading is undertaken two thirds of the way through fermentation, the wine is basket pressed and transferred to a mixture of old French and American oak to complete fermentation and mature. The barrel ferments are aged on lees, there is no racking until final blending and no fining or filtration.