You know how I love the origins of words as they have to do with wine, so the obvious question is, what is a stump jump anyway? Google it, and you will find a crazy-looking BMX bike or a high-alcohol amber beer. Come to find out, it's a crazy Australian invention, a plow designed to jump over stumps. Apparently, in 1866 South Australia, land was offered to farmers at an unheard price of £1 per acre with no interest for 21 years (worth about £150 per acre today adjusted for inflation.) The only problem was the Mallee scrub (an indigenous tree with a kryptonite root ball) made it difficult to clear the land even after the trees were cut down or burnt. Nothing seemed to work. New shoots intertwined with old stumps, making it impossible to plow. A bargain at £1 costs with another £2 to 7 to clear per acre, making it not such a bargain in the 19^th-century Australian outback. The problem became so frustrating that the South Australian government offered a reward of £200 (well, you can do the inflation math) to anyone who could develop an effective mechanical stump puller to be more productive than the conventional three-skilled-axemen method used at the time. Then, in 1876, the Stump Jump plow was invented. It consisted of hinges and weights so that when the plow hit a stump, it would rise out of the ground, lift over the stump, and then be forced back into the ground by the attached weights after the root was passed. It was said to look like a ship in a storm, rising and setting. The stump jump plow proved very effective in cultivating the vast virgin land in South Australia and is regarded as one of the most important agricultural inventions of the century.

The next question that is often asked is why the label on this wine looks like an eye exam chart. So, I googled that question and found this quote on their website. (had I looked, it is also on the back of the bottle) "THE LABEL: This optometrist eye chart-inspired design doubles as a makeshift sobriety test. If you hold the bottle at arm's length and can still read the bottom line, you can have another glass. (This statement is meant to be humorous and not to be considered a test of blood alcohol for the purpose of driving a vehicle, working machinery, or introducing yourself, twice, to the boss' wife at the upcoming holiday company party.) A more plausible reason for the eye chart label is that the inventor of the Sump Jump Plow, Richard Smith, was nearsighted. Due to all the many moving parts of the new plow, Richard needed to take regular eye tests to ensure he could operate the bobbing contraption with blades and chains without hurting himself.

Fourth-generation winemaker Chester Osborn is Australia's very own Willy Wonka of wine. He has turned his family's McLaren Vale estate into a veritable extravaganza, with feasts for all the senses. Experiences at d'Arenberg are almost as flamboyant as winemaker Chester Osborn's wardrobe (his loud shirts can easily identify him, untamed grey curls, and the odd hat), an estate brimming with personality that nonetheless respects a 109-year heritage that places it among the country's prestigious First Families of Wine. Chester's wine has whimsical and sometimes irreverent names, such as Dead Arm (named after a fatal vine disease) and Blind Tiger (A slang term for an American speakeasy). These are just a few irreverent names Chester has created for his wines – almost as colorful as his shirts. While dyslexic, he has a brilliant mind and a penchant for unusual – if pertinent – words to weave a story about what's in the bottle. 

All of the family's 450 acres of vineyards have been converted to organic and biodynamic, making d'Arenberg the largest biodynamic-certified winery and vineyard in Australia. The winery combines old with new technology. Eight hundred solar panels help operate the facility, recycle 100 % of its wastewater, and use sheep in its vineyards to keep weeds down and fertilize. In the winery, all wines are vinified in small batches using basket presses rather than bladder presses for gentle extraction of juice, unusual in Australia but worth the extra effort for the quality achieved. About two-thirds of the way through fermentation, he drains off half the juice and gets his cellar hands to foot-stomp the skins in fishing waders to break up the warm skins. This balance of old and new methods, along with Chester's genius for winemaking, has led to many Awards for winemaking, winery of the year, gold medals, and world praise, including being inducted into Wine & Spirits Magazine's Hall of Fame for earning a place on its Top 100 Wineries ten times.

The 2021 vintage of Stump Jump Cabernet is the first from d'Arenberg since 2008. This 100% varietal wine is sourced entirely from organic Mclaren Vale vineyards, an area with maritime influences much like Sonoma. Softly pressed grapes are vinified and then foot-trodden halfway through fermentation to keep the grapes cool. 50% of the final selection sees six months of neutral oak barrels, and the wines do not undertake fining or filtration before bottling. The result, as you would expect, is a big, bold, fruit-forward Cabernet aimed to please.

The 2021 d'Arenberg Cab pours forth in a dark and brooding opaque red and inky purple in the glass. On the nose it hits you with ripe black currant, mulberry, plum, black cherry fruits intermixed in dry baking spices, herbs and cocoa. The texture is rich in ripe red and black fruit flavors that are lifted with suede like tannins, spice and violet. The supple tannins frame the wine quite nicely, making it a great pairing for seared rare flank steak roulade with a shitake mushroom stuffing, beef tartare or herb crusted lamb chops. This is a lot of wine for the price.

Full of personality, this dense, muscular red is concentrated, with blackberry, cassis and spiced plum notes at the core, accents of sage, tobacco, cedar and spices, plus mineral elements and chewy tannins. Wine Spectator 90 pts

D'Arenberg Stump Jump Cabernet 2021

Dena, Tim, and I tried this wine, and the conclusion is that d'Arenberg hit this wine out of the park. Despite it having a stelvin enclosure, as most Australian wines do, this was a serious wine. The color was a dark opaque ruby with the immediate aromas of cranberry. Tim emphasized that it was fresh cranberry sauce, which was jammy but not sweet. It is a straightforward wine with hints of sweet tar and plum, fat on the palate, mild tannins, and a long red berry finish. Dena thought it was the best $7 Cabernet in the store. I tend to agree and would be a great candidate to feed the hoards at the traditional feast of turkeys in a couple of weeks. The only problem we had with this wine was that it went down too easily. It's a must-have wine for $7 a bottle with no coupons to deal with. Although we can get a good amount of this wine, quantities are finite.

Regular Price: $11.99

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Cheers!

John Hannum,

Fine & Rare Wine Specialist

Attleboro

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