So this would be the first Cliff Edge made solely under the stewardship of Kate Petering. Big shoes to fill but she’s been at Mount Langi for a while now (she joined the team in 2006) and is very articulate and grounded.
It has the vitality and Shiraz florals of the 2010. Trademark Langi white pepper but more complex spices besides. Fresh cherry-berry fruits – mulberry, blueberry – judicious oak, layered tannin and slightly flinty length. Fleet of foot with meat jus complexity and a forest-like note.Top drinking now but another terrific option for the cellar. 94
Region: Grampians
Alcohol: 14.0%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $30
Sounds like another winner here from Mount Langi, although I might stick to the lighter, spicier 2010 for now (while it’s still around anyways), and avoid the 2011.
I’ll be doing exactly the same for now Rob
But I’ll stock up on this vintage once it hits retail.
I’ve stashed 2010s with an extra couple kicking around my racks for current drinking. And I’ll do no less with the 2012. Whatever the quality of 2010, people who have some but miss this one may regret it.
Jeremy,
Bought a small truck load of the 2010…………yep right decision, one of the best value Oz cool climate available…………. if only there was a little more mouth texture. Will make a little room for the 2012′s.
I recently tried the 2011 Langi Shiraz at Cellar Door………..having tried several mid 2000′s I thought…….. my god what went wrong, thin, washed out quite a disappointment.
You are very honest in your appraisals and I look foward to your review if you get the opportunity.
Keep drinking
Colin
Firstly Colin, thank you. I am not always “right” but I try to record my experience of the wines I taste in an honest fashion. Hopefully readers feel able and encouraged to do the same on this site. There is certainly a sense of pleasure when “we” agree but the value of dialogue and alternative opinions is, I think, under-rated.
I’ll see if I can get a bottle of the 2011 Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz. I can’t promise anything but marketing manager of the Rathbone Wine Group Aaron Drummond is receptive and a pleasure to deal with. I don’t believe any reviewer/writer is “entitled” to receive any specific samples but there’s no harm in asking.
As for this wine, I’ve snapped up half a dozen thanks to a friend. It will be tremendously enjoyable to follow its trajectory as it ages.
Cheers
Jeremy
Look forward to your take on the 2011, Jeremy. (found it rather dilute & acidic too)
Spent an afternoon and an evening with this 2012 and the 2010. They’re both excellent wines.
The whole bunch influence is more prominent in the 2010 and the structural edifice more pronounced while the 2012 really is built more around that silky acidity with the whole bunch notes playing a more subtle role. Aromatically both are especially enticing but the 2012 is perhaps a little prettier and the 2010 slightly more serious…at least to me at this point in time. They’re both exciting and once you factor in the price I find them irresistible with a slight preference for the 2010. That may or may not change over time…
I’ve still not managed to taste the 2011 Langi old block, my apologies.
Great review Jeremy.
Kate is extremely capable. I’m following her work with interest as she puts her gentle thumbprint on these lovely wines.
There is always a balance between aromatics and structure at Langi that ends up in the hands of the winemaker.
I will poke Aaron to send you a 2011 Langi Shiraz. I enjoyed the sample I saw. Don’t get hung up on the vintage, when a terroir is as potent as Mount Langi, the season can only be of interest.
Dan
Thanks Dan. There seems to be almost a narrative flow at Langi; from Trevor Mast to yourself and now to Kate Petering. Not so much that the winemaker isn’t custodian but that the fingerprints are there and no one seems to have been pushed into following any kind of recipe. It’s only a hypothesis until I taste further vintages showcasing Kate’s interpretation but if it carries some truth then I personally find it an attractive endeavour.
I guess the old block will be the key here as the Cliff Edge has, from memory, only been 100% estate fruit for the last three vintages? In any case the old block would seem to be the wine that will bring the most to the equation simply through that potency of the terroir that you mention.
The 2011 Langi was much better than many would have expected, and did very well in a 2011 masked line up at my place of work.
I love Dan’s comment on the potency of the Langi terroir.
It should be called out, the Mast years were more about the 80s and 90s Australian premium label ethos of parcels from all available sites classified for each wine. Thus, the Langi wasn’t necessarily off the Langi blocks, and there were some vintages of rather jaw dropping production volumes. That is not a determined criticism, merely an acknowledgement of what we as a nation did at the time with a large portion of our flagship/icon labels that had more than a small site to draw from.
Dan Buckle and now Kate Petering are focussed on the core blocks of the one site (with its own patchwork quilt of various nuances as you move across the vineyard). Thus, production is much smaller, and the thumbprint of Langi Shiraz is more recognisable across vintages than ever before. And let’s not forget, has allowed Cliff Edge to be a home creation of greater quality than ever before.
Absolutely. I know a bit about the Trevor Mast Langi years and certain stories that seem central to them but I’m happy to admit that I’m not sure when (or perhaps which vintages) the one site became, at the very least, the focus…or when Dan and Kate began to concentrate on certain blocks. More questions for me to ask next time I have the opportunity to chat with either/both of them.
2004 we moved the Langi Shiraz to strictly Old Block. The years following that became a detailed analysis of the vineyard in terms of soils, vine vigour and flavour mapping. Work which continues today I believe. Of course, this approach can become reductionist to the point of absurdity, but is good work if you can get it.
2008 we moved the Cliff Edge to Estate Grown – using both the home vineyard at the winery and the Hollows Vineyard 5 minutes away. Both share similar granite soils and Easterly aspect.
There were/are younger blocks at Langi which can and will produce better fruit in the future than the Old Block. How to label that with clarity will be interesting. So there are parcels of comparable quality going into Cliff Edge.
It’s my belief that one of the features of old vines is not mystical, rather through simple human practice. Over time, with a little intelligence, vignerons learn how best to farm grapes on a given patch of land. So the best is yet to come, and might not come from the Old Block.
Cheers Dan. That saves me pestering you or Kate via email or phone! But come on, it’s all very mystical. Diligence and human endeavour must be minimised for best results