Wine of the week: A mineral-imbued Australian Shiraz
The 2005 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz captures everything that is raw and real about the soil, says Matthew Jukes - a truly wondrous conundrum.
2005 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria, Australia (£37.00, Great Western Wine).
One of the leading lights in Australia, Mount Langi, is now a superstar estate with visionary winemaking in the form of Dan Buckle. I can't remember how many gold medals and trophies this chap has won on the Australian wine competition circuit, but he is definitely one of the most inspirational and informed men in the whole of the country's wine scene.
Not conforming to the Australian Shiraz norm, this cool-climate Victorian wine, made in the middle of nowhere from vines planted as far back as 1963, is sensuous, mineral-imbued and effortlessly graceful in very much a European way. This is one wine to serve blind when pouring heroic Shirazes for your Mensan pals. I can guarantee amazement when the label is revealed because Langi captures everything that's raw and real about the soil in which it is grown. That alone is too thrilling to describe in mere words. The wine will have to do it for me, such is its elemental force. Langi Shiraz is a truly wondrous conundrum. The 2006 vintage, which follows later this year, is one of my 100 Best Australian Wines of 2011.
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Matthew Jukes is a winner of International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).
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Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.
He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. 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.
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.
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