2021 d'Arenberg The Derelict Vineyard Grenache, McLaren Vale

As with all wines from here, they have been endowed with weird and wonderful names, the details of which are all available on the website. Not many wineries would be game to call their wine Derelict. No such issues here. This is from the wonderful 2021 vintage in McLaren Vale, with fermentation completed in old French oak, followed by time on lees. Crimson red with hints of a blue haze, the wine offers a lovely ripeness with notes of strawberries, raspberries, milk chocolate, a hint of tar and some attractive kirsch touches. There is good focus here, length and fine silky tannins on the finish, which lingers well. Love it. Eight to ten years. Drink to 2035.

94 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, October 2025

There feels like a lightening of touch here. The fruit intensity and alcohol remain, but there’s a greater purity, a revelling in the red fruits, musk and rose notes, absent real confection, also some red licorice, raspberry and kirsch qualities. Tannins still have a drying quality, a little less of the fine, sandy grip from skins alone, but there’s a lot of fruit to shepherd, and it achieves that. Drink to 2030.

90 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, February 2026

Deep-ish brick-red colour; tinged with purple. Some meaty development is starting to show on the nose, while the palate is firm and full, with tension and grip aplenty. Slightly chewy tannins that line the cheeks. Plenty of guts if not finesse. Drink to 2036.

89 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, July 2026

The Derelict Vineyard is named after the old bush vines and poorly maintained vineyards in McLaren Vale that Chester Osborn came across while searching for, at that point in time, unfashionable Grenache, a variety that has been central to d’Arenberg since the very beginning.

Th fruit for this wine was sourced from several McLaren Vale sites, with each picked as they mature throughout the season. The small batches were crushed into open fermenters and foot trodden two thirds of the way through the fermentation, after which the wine was basket pressed into a combination of new and old French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. Blending took place after a total of twelve months in oak.

About this producer

The 1912 established d'Arenberg remains a family business, with fourth-generation Chester Osborn crafting bold, characterful wine with winemaker Jack Walton that continuing the family legacy of pushing the boundaries of the region.

The estate vineyards are substantial, with the family owning or leasing roughly 200 hectares in McLaren Vale, in addition to sourcing grapes from contract growers in the Adelaide Hils and the Fleurieu. Their own vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic, making family one of the largest biodynamic farmers in Australia.

The range of wines on offer is notable, with the winery vinifying nearly forty varieties in most seasons. The work at the winery remains highly traditional and labour-intensive despite their large scale, with all white and red wines pressed with gentle basket presses, and the red ferments foot-trodden by cellar hands in the original open concrete fermenters. The red wines are bottled without fining or filtration.