2011 Shiraz The Dead Arm

Opaque ruby. The nose displays an array of dark fruit and floral scents, along with suggestions of pipe tobacco, violet and cracked pepper. Chewy and focused on entry, then fleshier in the mid-palate, offering bitter cherry and cassis flavors that are slow to open up. Less lush than usual for this bottling, which is the norm for virtually all 2011 South Australia red wines, with dusty tannins coming in late to add grip to the lingering, pepper-accented cherry pit and blackcurrant flavors. In the context of this difficult vintage this is a pretty successful effort.

Deep garnet-colored with a hint of purple, the 2011 The Dead Arm Shiraz has a quite youthful nose revealing intense cassis, plum and mulberry scents with hoisin sauce, Szechuan pepper and an earthy undercurrent