The d’Arenberg winery has just been fully certified organic this year and is the largest biodynamic grower in the whole of Australia.
Late last month when most of the UK trade had packed their holiday suitcases (Panama hat, red corduroy shorts, Jilly Cooper novel) winemaker Chester Osborn from celebrated red stripe-branded McLaren Vale winery d’Arenberg flew into the UK to host a low-key, brilliantly insightful, utterly bonkers tasting.
d’Arenberg winemaker Chester Osborn: Robert Plant meets Willy Wonka
Osborn – known for his outlandish shirts, curly mop and enthusiasm – brought with him a dozen wines from across the d’Arenberg stable, dozens more stories and a bag full of props to mimic the names of some of his most famous wines, including a dis-embodied arm and a pair of rose-tinted spectacles.
Let’s just say it was an enjoyable, laughter-filled couple of hours shot through with serious and thought-provoking discussions around Rudolph Steiner, climate change, screwcaps and the chemistry of winemaking. Here’s just a snapshot of what we learned about d’Arenberg, Chester and the future of winemaking in McLaren Vale.
Founding fathers
The d’Ardenberg estate was bought by the Osborns in 1912 when Chester’s great grandfather sold his prize-winning stable of horses in order to purchase the property. His son Frank left medical school to work on the farm, he planted vines and built the winery in 1927. In 1959 his son d’Arry launched the first d’Arenberg wine to boast the famous red stripe on its label. Chester took the reins in 1984 after he had got experience making wine around the world.
What’s in a name?
d’Arry Osborn was named after his mother Helena d’Arenberg who passed away in 1926 shortly after childbirth, aged 31. After years of growing grapes to supply to others and for bulk wine it was d’Arry’s decision to honour his mother by making the family’s first wines from estate-grown grapes and naming them after his mother. D’Arenberg now makes over 70 different wines.
72 to be precise… & counting
d’Arenberg’s stable of wines is the largest in Australia, with 72 different wines on the books, from 37 varieties and encompassing 200+ different parcels of Shiraz alone and 400+ parcels in total. Chester tastes each individual barrel prior to blending. Two new wines are soon to be added, taking the tally to 74!
Future plantings
If Chester has his way (and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t) then the portfolio will grow even more over the next few years as he looks to the future. He believes that Mencia, Assyrtiko, Greco and Fiano could be key varieties for the future of Australian viticulture in McLaren Vale and beyond as climate change takes hold. A 100% Mencia is already in production, which is named The Anthropocene Epoch in a nod to the global fight against climate change. The Anthropocene Epoch is a new geological time defined by nuclear tests, plastic pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. Cheery stuff!
100% organic 100% biodynamic
The winery is already doing its bit for the environment – all the 200 hectares of vines used to make d’Arenberg’s wines (both estate and leased vineyards) are certified organic and biodynamic. They are the largest biodynamic grower in Australia and the winery was certified organic this year. Furthermore, 50% of the estate’s own vineyards are more than 50 years old, which taps in nicely to the legacy and quality of old vine production.
The moon & the stars
Chester farms biodynamically but doesn’t go head over heels for every biodynamic rule, choosing to focus on the more common sense principles such as picking on a waxing moon and/or on a fruit or flower day. He believes strongly in the science behind the influence of the moon on grapes on the vine, and wine in the cellar, and has a theory that the changes in osmotic pressure during the moon’s cycle makes picking on a waxing moon better for the fruit and that this same change in pressure during a full moon can help with stuck ferments. He also uses more down-to-earth methods to asses when to pick, such as spending hours in the vineyard each day tasting grapes, and looking at the weather forecast.
Music for the vines
Some of the vines on the d’Arenberg estate get a little assistance closer to home too as Chester has rigged up a system to play music to the vines to help them produce better fruit! The music which is “not for humans, it’s for the vines” was composed by DJ Trip and is a euphoric blast which is inspired by the ‘eight parameters of weather’ so reflects all manner of meteorological elements including rain, sunlight, wind and humidity. The vines have been tuning in since December 2017 and early results are positive!
The Cube
In 2003 Chester had a vision of a state-of-the-art visitor centre/cellar door attraction built in the heart of the d’Arenberg McLaren Vale vineyards. It took almost 15 years to come to fruition but in December last year The Cube opened its doors to visitors.
Osborn outside The Cube: note good shirt continuity!
This Rubik’s Cube-inspired building is across five levels and houses a top-end restaurant, tasting room, sensory area, 360° video space and an alternative realities museum. There’s even a natural wine machine – a robot which produces 54 litres of natural Sagrantino each month. The mind boggles.
New meets old
For all the new-fangled technology in The Cube – all the whistles and bells – the wine production in the d’Arenberg winery remains as simple (and effective) as it always has been. Every white and red wine is pressed in old wooden basket presses, with each red ferment foot-trodden too. Red ferments take place in five tonne open fermenters with wooden hammer boards to submerge the cap. This way, says Chester, it’s a ‘chemical rather than mechanical’ extraction process which benefits the grapes and the wine.
A man of many talents
As well as winemaking and promoting the loud shirt (he gives Nelson Mandela a run for his money in this regard, and owns over 360 ‘noisy’ shirts like the one in the pictures above) Chester has many other talents. He’s an artist and art collector, a keen sailor and a dab hand with a camera, winning photography competitions in his youth. Quite the renaissance man.
The wines of d’Arenberg are sold and distributed in the UK by Enotria&Coe.
