In 1912 Joseph Osborn, a teetotaler, purchased land in the internationally known wine region McLaren Vale located some 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Adelaide in South Australia. This area has long warm days and short cool nights. Wine fanciers will enjoy sampling wines from the area's many subregions. As in many other regions of Australia Shiraz is most popular grape here. McLaren Vale grows many grape varieties including Sangionvese and Chardonnay. The D'Arry in this wine's name refers to the founder's grandson who launched the D'Arenberg label in 1959. I don't know whether D'Arry was an abstainer like his grandpa. Today's companion wine is an inexpensive (available for less than $10) red Australian blend from the world's largest kosher winery. OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review have been purchased at the full retail price. Wine Reviewed D'Arenberg D'Arry's Original 2004 13.0% alcohol about $15 Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Description : A perennial favorite of Robert Parker Jr., the 2004 earned a 91 (his web site, Oct. 2006). This Grenache/Shiraz blend displays aromas and flavors of blackberry, black cherry, cinnamon, roses, and menthol with coffee and caramel in the background. The wine lands softly on the palate, and finishes long and smooth. And now for my review. There was a bottle cap problem; I needed a wrench to twist open the cap after cutting it. At the first sips this wine offered harsh acidity. So it tried it without food the following day to see if this near defect would go away. It did, and I tasted caramel and dark plums. My first meal was a boxed vegetarian lasagna containing ricotta and mozzarella cheese. I slathered it with grated parmesan cheese. Initially I noted a harshness in the wine's acidity. As the meal went on, the harshness predominated. This was really too bad because the blend displayed lots of good fruit, oak, and caramel. The following meal consisted of chili with rice and okra cooked in tomato sauce and coriander. When it accompanied the meat, this wine's caramel was predominant. Now its acidity was well balanced with light tannins. The delicious okra rounded out the caramel and the wine seemed slightly more tannic which was not a problem. I added ground chili peppers to the meat dish and the Grenache/Shiraz became more intense. The caramel stepped back to make room for black fruit. I don't know how you feel, but I would rather taste black fruit than caramel in my dry wine. Dessert was fresh honeydew and the caramel taste was in the saddle. My final meal centered around slow-cooked beef ribs accompanied by chickpeas. The wine was very long and mouth-filling; its caramel was surrounded by fruit. The chickpeas increased the wine's acidity and intensified the caramel taste. When accompanying a tomato, onion, green pepper, artichoke, and jalapeno, lime salsa the wine lost fruit even as it echoed the salsa's acidity. My first cheese was a marbled cheddar. This blend was quite long and round, tasting of, you guessed it, caramel. With a more interesting Swiss cheese the wine's acidity was slightly harsh, not as bad as in the beginning. Final verdict. I not would buy this wine again, I was unhappy with the initial harsh acidity and all that caramel. Seeing it on the web for $13 did not change my mind.
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