The colour is a very deep crimson with purple hues. Satsuma plum, blue fruits and mulberry dominate the aroma with smoky hints and creamy vanilla to complete the picture.
The aroma then flows onto the palate with briary and sweet spice balancing the sweet fruit. Rich and full bodied yet quite elegant, this wine displays fine, soft tannins and good acidity creating a long, fruitful and slightly toasty finish.
James Halliday, Austalian Wine Companion, on the 2008 vintage: "Strong crimson-purple; a top quality shiraz, picked before the heatwave and made using the same techniques as Freedom, and has similar intensity, focus and length; here only one-third new French barriques, but the oak is a positive contributor." 96 points
Destined for destruction to make way for housing, ten rows of 140 year old Shiraz vines were rescued by Langmeil and transplanted, thus preserving part of the Barossa’s heritage. These orphans are not without relatives. They share a common ancestry with our 1843 Freedom vineyard, having been planted in the 1800’s on what was then the same allotment: section 36, Hundred of Moorooroo.
In August 2006, and again in June 2007, the vines were transplanted one at a time to a fertile patch of land on the banks of the North Para River adjacent to the winery’s The Freedom 1843 Shiraz vineyard. The wine from these gnarled and twisted Shiraz vines is matured for two years in carefully chosen new and seasoned American and French oak. It is then bottled without fining and filtration to ensure the true essence of the Barossa is captured. Sealed with a screw cap ensures that the wine, once opened, is as the winemaker intended.
James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion has rated Langmeil Winery with five stars, placing it amongst the very top echelon of Australian Wineries.
96 points: James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion (2008 vintage)
ALLOCATION WINE: This is an allocation wine, a wine where demand substantially exceeds availability of supply due to limited production or rarity of vintage. Rather than mark-up to reflect this rarity, we simply reserve the right to exclude this wine from headline price promotions.
