|
|
Available by the dozen
Joseph Rowe Osborn was born in 1852, he was a lay preacher, mining speculator, public servant, teetotaler and local politician. Osborn joined Thomas Hardy & Sons in 1881, eventually becoming a partner and director. He invested in a chestnut colt which won a fortune at the races and changed his life forever. Footbolt was the first wine in McLaren Vale to be labelled as Old Vine. When the moniker became common practice it was altered to commemorate the racehorse which played a pivotal role in the establishment of d'Arenberg. Joseph Osborn purchased the nascent McLaren Vale Milton Vineyards in 1912. Components of today's Footbolt Shiraz are still sourced off the original vines acquired by Osborn a century ago. Small batches are passed through a gentle open roller crusher, some berries remain whole, followed by transfer to five tonnes headed down open fermenters. When tannin extraction is just right, the wine is basket pressed and filled to a mixture of new and older American and French oak barriques and large casks for completion of ferments and malolactic. Barrels are aged for a year on lees to keep the wine fresh and reduce influence of oak, remaining unracked until the final assemblage, unfiltered and unfined.
TASTING NOTESDeep bright scarlet colour. Enticing mix of red and black fruits, mulberries and ripe blackberry, exotic spice supports the fruit, nutmeg and cinnamon, anise and clove, it wouldn’t be Footbolt without that generous lick of d’Arenberg earth and game. On the palate the wine is rich, concentrated and generous, an intrinsic warmth, the dark plummy fruit, leather and cedar notes, soily tannins with a hint of chewiness, pulls it all together for a long, gratifying finish. |
|
|
The heart of McLaren Vale, past and present, d’Arenberg is one of the most significant wineries in Australia
In 1912 Joseph Osborn, a teetotaller and director of Thomas Hardy and Sons, purchased the well established Milton Vineyards of 25 hectares in the hills just north of the townships of Gloucester and Bellevue, now known as McLaren Vale. Joseph’s son Francis Ernest (‘Frank’) Osborn left medical school, choosing to forsake the scalpel for pruning shears. He soon increased the size of the vineyard to 78 hectares. Fruit was sold to local wineries until the construction of his own cellars was completed in 1928. Dry red table and fortified wines were produced in ever increasing quantities to supply the expanding markets of Europe. dArenberg»
|
