In 1912 Joseph Osborn – a teetotaller and director of Thomas Hardy and Sons – purchased some well-established vineyards planted in the previous century. Cellars were built in 1928 and the wine sold throughout the Empire. In the late 1950s d’Arry Osborn assumed control of the winery. His tremendous flair and focus on quality brought considerable fame to the d’Arenberg winery, one of the first cult wines in the Australian market. Its distinctive livery – a red diagonal stripe – gave the brand considerable impetus in the market. Success in the Australian wine show system – it won the Jimmy Watson Trophy – helped d’Arenberg become an important wine producer. By the 1980s it was considered a little old fashioned and in need of innovation, although in truth what had happened was a shift in sentiment to cool-climate wines. d'Arry's son, Chester Osborn, a Roseworthy-trained winemaker, took over the reigns in 1984. By 1990 the market had again embraced the opulence of McLaren Vale Shiraz. d’Arenberg has a lovely reputation for imagination, eccentricity, hard work and highly focussed winemaking. At almost every price point it delivers something different or interesting. It has significant vineyard holdings (160 acres under subsidiary Osborn Vineyards) on various soil profiles including loose bleached sand over marly limestone clay, sand impregnated with lots of ironstone and quartz over a marly limestone clay, shallow loam over limestone clay to terra rossa as well as red clay over limestone. Traditional and proven methods of sustainable viticulture are preferred. Cover crops, minimal or no irrigation and low input philosophies are employed to achieve natural vine balance and well concentrated flavourful fruit. You only have to see the vineyards to understand how these philosophies impact on the excellent physical condition of the vines. The wines are all gently pressed through the 1860 Coq and 1940 Bromley & Tregoning basket presses. d’Arenberg’s reputation is based on its red wines made from some of the oldest Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre in the region. The wines vary from the very polished to the rustic. The seriously good The Dead Arm Shiraz, a Langtons-Classified wine, takes its name from a fungal disease. Although ‘dead arm’ affected blocks are often considered to have one foot (arm?) in the grave, d’Arenberg’s truncated, gap-toothed old vines have been producing small bunches of highly flavoured grapes for more than 100 years. The Dead Arm has become a beacon of the McLaren Vale -- and the Australian -- Shiraz genre. d’Arenberg has a fair swag of individual wines – The Footbolt Old Vine Shiraz, Coppermine Road Cabernet Sauvignon (also Langtons-Classified) and Ironstone Pressings Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre – are also well regarded on the market. There are a bevy of other white and red wines under the d’Arenberg label, all with unusual and/or intriguing names, including Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier, Custodian Grenache and a multitude of other red and white wines of various levels of interest. d’Arenberg is very much the quintessential Australian wine experience. Pioneer and veteran winemaker d’Arry Osborn and son Chester are much loved by wine industry people and consumers alike. Andrew Caillard MW, Langtons