A McLaren Vale Rarity of the Highest Order — The Dead Arm at 27 Years

My Wine Man on d'Arenberg

d'Arenberg has been farming McLaren Vale since 1912 — five generations of bold, unconventional winemaking from one of Australia's most storied family estates. The Dead Arm is d'Arenberg's flagship Shiraz, sourced from 100-year-old vines and named for the fungal condition that concentrates fruit on the surviving cordon. The 1998 — now 27 years in bottle — is a genuine collector's bottle, representing one of the finest Dead Arm vintages ever produced and an extraordinarily rare opportunity to drink McLaren Vale Shiraz at full maturity.

Tasting Notes

Deep garnet shading to brick at the rim — the colour of a wine entering its third decade. The nose offers fully developed tertiary notes: leather, tobacco, dried herbs, balsamic, forest floor, with dark plum and dried fig still present at the core. The palate is silky and resolved, with fully integrated tannins, perfect acidity, and the kind of secondary complexity that only comes with proper cellaring.

Style & Drinking Window

Full-bodied but resolved and elegant. Drinking magnificently now at peak maturity. Decant for 30–45 minutes and drink within 5 years.

Food Pairing

A 27-year-old McLaren Vale icon at peak maturity demands a centre-of-the-plate cut. We love it with Australian Grass-Fed Cape Grim Rib-Eye Steak from My Meat Man — dry-aged and char-grilled medium-rare, the rich marbling is a magnificent match for the 1998's leather, tobacco and silky tertiary complexity. A pairing for the most considered occasion.