Torb,
Otis passed on your regards...cheers.

I tried some 2001 Dead Arm recently...my gosh this just needs time.

Hi Jeremy,

When are you going to come over to this side of the ditch so we can share a bottle or 5?

i am sitting on a good quantity of this and i am on the fence as wether to profit (i bought it right) or to hold for a decade to find out if i like it

Thanks TORB, I'll (try to) let it sit awhile longer yet.

Don't be impatient, weedhopper!

Heya Bman,
Long time no see.

Great to have you over on the Darkside so to speak.

TORB,
Hopefully heading to Melborne and then Adelaide this year to catch up with Peter Barry and family. Then I will head up to NSW. We have to definately have a bottle or five. I will post and e-mail closer to the time.

Decanted 24 hours before dinner. Inky-black colour with tinges of garnet/ruby red. Aromas of Tahitian vanilla, eucalyptus, brown sugar, and oak. Full-bodied with vanilla, oak, black fruit, cassis and alcohol. Long, mouthpuckering finish, ~ 50s in length. This wine needs a substantial amount of time in the cellar. I would not even consider revisiting this wine for at least 5 years. 92 points (03/20/2004).

Dense, deep saturated purplish-black in color, with an intense, powerful nose that is deep, focused and pure with crushed berries, cassis, vanilla, spice, and licorice. Hugely extracted, with powerful, rich ripe tannins, a full throttle palate, and tart bracing acidity, finishing tremendously long and fine. Just a baby, this wine really needs time, 95+ points, and my #2 of the flight.

Eric, care to venture a guess on how long to wait before I open my first bottle? I only have three and I currently have them scheduled for 2005, 2008 and 2011. Think I should make it more like 2008, 2009 and 2010?

I had this last in February and felt the `01 Dead Arm needed to lay down for another 4-5 years at least.

That is two votes for around 5 years, Seek and Futronic.

Agreed, I am not touching mine for 5 years.

OK, that makes three. I'm going with the group and extending my drinking window.

joe,

that sounds about right from when i had it. one thing though i would extend the last bottle out to about 2020 just to see what is what. i have 12 of them and they are set from 2008-2030. of course i will adjust as time goes by.

I've got a 6-pack, so it'll be interesting to see how the wine develops over the next 10-15 years. Bottle 1 - 2009.

• 2001 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm - Australia, South Australia, McLaren Vale (6/11/2005)
  Opened about 6pm and recorked... went to dinner.. came back and poured first glass about 8pm. when i opened it the first time the nose was wafting out of the bottle and you could smell it a foot away!!! after dinner the nose had some of the more aggressiveness toned down, but was full of fruit, spice and menthol. Very dark, although i remember the 98 being darker. smooth. a tad hint of vanilla, some mint/menthol hiding in the dark fruit. we enjoyed it over the course of 2.5 hours and finished off the last glass the next night, the spice was more integrated with the fruit and there was less vanilla and more cinnamon... significant sediment at the end, so be careful eeking out that last glass. loved it. glad i have more as it has plenty of time ahead of it. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker!

mmmm.... very tasty...

Opened one of these last night. I wanted to wait another couple years, but I figured I have enough of them so lets give one a go.

Initially very closed aromas and flavors upon first taste 2 hours after decanting. By hour 3.5 this wine really began to pick up steam and build in the glass. This wine was again continuing to build with the last glass at about 4.5 hours. 2-3 years would still be recommended in the celler from this point. Tannins were pretty stiff by last glass with lots of grapey and primary fine fruit flavors. Last tasted in February of 2003 this bottle showed much better.

Thanks for taking one for the team, Seek!

A friend of mine popped one of these at the weekend when I called over. I was really looking forward to this wine but unfortunatly this one was a waste. The wine is totally shut down. The bottle was opened about an hour before we started drinking it (not decanted). Still thick dark purple all over with huge viscous legs. For the first half hour it had a wonderful nose and powerful palate then nothing, for the most part all aromas vanished! It was tannic as hell, drying out both of our mouths (we needed a few glasses of water during the proceedings). It was still enjoyable to drink and tasted of 'more' throughout (we had to slow ourselves down from finishing it in order to see how it would develop in the glass) but I was disappointed that it was opened way too early. We served a glass blind to my friends father and he asked if it was a 10Euro bottle of Cotes Du Rhone, when he got the glass the wine had totally shut down. No points this time around (it would do the wine a disservice), but gobs of potential. Hold for at least another 2-3 years, with at least 10 years life ahead.


Cheers

Quote:

---

For the first half hour it had a wonderful nose and powerful palate then nothing, for the most part all aromas vanished!

---

WW,

This sound more like a wine with a tiny amount of cork taint rather than a wine that has shut down. Not enough taint to notice any foul aromas or even the tell-tale wet hession; juts enough to mute the aroma and taste. The most insidious type of TCA!