d'Arenberg's 2014 The Laughing Magpie consists of 94% Shiraz & 6% Viognier. It is a nice round, plump style of Shiraz. Loads of plum and black berry on the nose, with the small Viognier component adding exotic notes of spiced apricots. There's lots of ripe plum flavours, alongside graphite and dried herbs. It's another luscious d'Arenberg soft wine, finishing with restrained tannin and moderate acidity.
"McLaren Vale blend of Shiraz (94%) and Viognier (6%).
It’s sweet-fruited, soft, round and mouth-filling. It offers a gobful of fruit. Raspberry jam, blueberries, anise and leather, though fresh, very fresh. It bounces around the mouth. Sweet floral aromatics and indeed flavours are here in abundance too. It’s heady and generous and fun."
91 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, January 2019, Drink: 2019 - 2024+
The Kookaburra is a native Australian bird famous for its distinctive laughing call, Chester's young daughters named them 'Laughing Magpies'. The Magpie plumage is black with a stripe of white feathers, representing McLaren Vale's first ever blend combining the (black) Shiraz and its white partner, Viognier.
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.Winery Notes
