Remembering d'Arry Osborn: The Legacy of d'Arenberg Winery in McLaren Vale

We are immensely proud to raise a glass of ‘d’Arry’s Original’ to honour an iconic winemaker, a fantastic raconteur, and a great man for a life well lived. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Chester and the Osborn family.

Last month saw the passing of Francis d’Arenberg Osborn – better known and loved as d’Arry – at the ripe old age of 95. Even in his final year of life d’Arry was still actively involved in the winery and could be found talking with guests in the tasting room.

The Osborn and Red Bottle families were fortunate to share a very special relationship over the years and we were always made most welcome at their McLaren Vale home, with d’Arry hosting members of our team many times attending numerous wine tastings with us here in Sydney. We are proud to have been afforded the opportunity to get to know d’Arry, he was a wonderful person who always made us feel at home whenever we visited.

D’Arry was born on the family vineyard in 1926 and started in the winery at the young age of 16, back when Clydesdale horses still did the work of tractors. He learnt on the job and had no formal winemaking education, so it was very much trial and error and gathering tips from neighbouring vineyards. D’Arry would famously wear dinner shirts in the winery during vintage, which in his words “give the reds more elegance.”D’Arenberg began as a vineyard in 1912 with eight acres of Shiraz and Grenache that were first planted by d’Arry’s grandfather Joseph Osborn, for his son, Francis (Frank), who built the winery in 1927. When Frank became ill in 1943, his son d’Arry, aged 16, left school to run the winery and vineyards. In 1959, d’Arry launched his own label; d’Arenberg, and introduced the now globally recognised red stripe on the labels.

D’Arry’s wines found their fame in the late 1960’s, when the 1968 Cabernet Sauvignon won the Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1969 and the 1967 Red Burgundy, a Grenache based wine went on to be awarded 7 trophies and 29 Gold Medals at Australian capital city wine shows.

Over his lifetime d’Arry oversaw more than 70 consecutive vintages at d’Arenberg, taking the winery from bulk flagon production to an internationally recognised wine brand and was instrumental in developing the McLaren Vale into the wine region that it is today.

D’Arry championed Grenache, which he helped become a variety and style for which d’Arenberg-and, varietally speaking, the McLaren Vale region became famous for. He grew to love the fruit forward-yet-powerfully structured wine, using old oak and always basket pressed. As Shiraz and Grenache were the first vines planted, it seems appropriate to remember a legend and honour a life well lived with a glass of d’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache.