This wine will have you second guessing as it skips between red fruits and lifted spice notes on the one hand to more brooding, dark, ashen, earthy aromas on the other. A sign of the vintage no doubt. The seasonal conditions are even more evident on the palate where flavour, tannin and acid are in perfect balance. There is an impressive amount of concentration in this wine but at the same time it feels somewhat more restrained compared to other more in your face, rustic Dead Arm vintages. Particularly when we look at the tannin profile which is a relatively fine example for this wine. The benefit of all of this of course is that it is immediately drinkable upon release. Don?t be fooled by its approachability however, The Dead Arm Shiraz shows all the hall marks of a classic McLaren Vale Shiraz that will see it age gracefully for 15 plus years.