Wine of the week: A wistful Australian shiraz

published 18 February 2013

2007 The Society's Exhibition Victorian Shiraz, Mount Langi Ghiran, Australia (£16, The Wine Society, 01438-741177).

This beautiful wine is an affordable reminder of just how talented the great Dan Buckle was when he made the wines at Mount Langi Ghiran, in Ararat in the Victorian countryside, 200km west of Melbourne. Dan took over winemaking duties from dearly departed vinous hero and pioneer Trevor Mast.

His first full vintage in charge was 2004 and he made some of the most incredible Aussie shiraz I have ever tasted in his ten years at the property.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Winning countless awards and managing to urge the world's most critical palates to focus on a cool climate were his enduring legacies. I have a goodly collection of his blue label' shiraz in my own cellar with which to surprise people in years to come.

Dan has now moved jobs (like a highly prized centre-forward) to make sparkling wines at Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley and to develop his own-label Circe, which arrives in April keep your eyes peeled!

This own-label shiraz, made for the team at Wine Society, is a beauty. Drinking perfectly with savoury hedgerow fruit and an epic, wistful finish, it should find a home in your cellar today.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.