Winery & Vintage Info
During the vine pull scheme in the 80's, d'Arry Osborn refused to remove his old Grenache vineyards. Today d'Arenberg is the keeper of nearly one third of McLaren Vale's old bush vine Grenache, earning the title of 'Custodian' of the variety.
A healthy winter and plenty of spring rains set the vines up very well. Bud burst was on time, but very cool for the first part of spring. Shoots grew to 5 or 6 inches long and then stopped for a month. Flowering was quite late, by three weeks, which meant a late start to harvest, and long, slow ripening periods. The summer rains stopped in mid-January, so disease pressure was low. It was very dry from February to April, with only a few millimetres of rain. Days were mild with a lot of cool nights, the first few weeks of April was around two degrees hotter than usual, which help that last bits of fruit to ripen. Overall, a great vintage with minimal disease pressure and above average crop levels.
The winemaking of d'Arenberg Custodian Grenache 2017 vintage saw small batches of grapes are gently crushed and then transferred to open fermenters. 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, and there is no racking until final blending. This wine does not undertake fining or filtration prior to bottling. Winey notes
