d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2010 - 750mL - Red Wine

90% Shiraz, 10% Viognier

 

Very dark rich looking appearance suggesting with a black-crimson hue suggesting a complex youthful dry red. The aroma is intense and still quite undeveloped with a floral mix of peach stone, jasmine and cranberry juice overriding dark maraschino cherries, star anise, and spiced fruit cake. If you give the wine a vigorous decanting youll see amongst the floral & vegetative earthy notes a dominance of white pepper & plum notes mixed with root vegetables such as parsnips and beetroot, along with hints of roasted black tea, black olives and edges of fragrant garden herbs. The palate is full flavoured with ripe juicy soft mouth-filling flavours suggesting beetroot juice, blueberries blackcurrants and red cherries with herbaceous edges that keep the palate in check. Overall a slightly lighter wine than previous years but the oak is showing a greater impact due to its youth, with lovely cedary notes which compliments the abundant tea like tannins and edgy mineral acidity that gives the wine excellent definition. The concentration of this wine suggests it will greatly benefit further bottle aging for the medium term and in 10 years or so, depending on storage, it should be at its drinking best.

 

92 Points, The Wine Advocate

"Shiraz-Viognier blends have become quite the ticket in recent years (what to do with all that so-so Viognier) but one of the first and still one of the best is the Laughing Magpie. The opaque purple-colored 2007 The Laughing Magpie Shiraz (90%)-Viognier (10%) offers up an expressive bouquet of smoke, mineral, violets, and wild blueberry. Medium-to full-bodied on the palate, it has tons of ripe blue fruits, spice notes, and enough structure to evolve for 2-3 years. This lengthy, pleasure-bent effort will be at its best from 2013 to 2020."