2021 Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz, Grampians

Grown on the estate's 'Old Block' of shiraz vines, planted in 1969. It spent 16 months in French oak barriques (50% new). It's a magnificent release. It's fluid, elegant and controlled but, just a bit, it also stamps its feet and says: the world is mine. It's awash with cherry/plum, peanut shell, black pepper and floral flavours, and it's both silken to the touch, and (super) long through the finish. This is a wine. Drink to 2044.

98 points Campell Mattinson for Halliday Wine Companion, July 2024

Very deep, dark, brooding purple-red colour; the bouquet is powerful, rich and complex with a wide range of spice aromas that are immediately arresting and challenging to describe. Pepper, clove, bayleaf, turmeric, nutmeg, with fruit aromas in the black cherry, blackberry spectrum with a touch of espresso coffee. The wine is very full-bodied and powerful, the concentration impressive but not achieved at the expense of elegance or balance. Outstanding shiraz. Drink to 2043.

98 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, September 2024

Sourced from the sacred Old Block site and matured in French barriques for 16 months of which 50% was new. There is a potency to the black fruit. Blackberries, bilberry and black christmas cherries. So too, is rhubarb and redcurrant dispersed throughout. A medley of clove, caraway and carob spice. The fruit concentration is dense, dark and deeply detailed, backed by the artful tailoring of oak spice. A cascade of fresh acidity uplifts the palate and then floods it with cassia bark, black truffles and cocoa nibs. There is such energy and solid foundations in the framework of this wine. It’s an absolute superstar wine and this vintage is on song. A benchmark for cool climate Shiraz. Drink now and will cellar well for 10 years plus. I’d drink this with a bone-in dry aged rib eye and the most loyal best mate you’ve got. If that’s your dog even better, more wine for you. Drink to 2034 and beyond.

98 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, November 2024

One of Australia’s finest cool climate Shiraz and this vintage has produced one of the best. This is the 40th vintage since the first of these rolled off the line in 1981. I love the combination of dusty earthiness, plum and spices. The natural acidity is key as it allows the palate to focus and strike out towards a sustained finish. Radiant and vibrant with a brilliant presence in the glass. Drink to 2044.

97 points Ray Jordan for Wine Pilot, August 2024

The 2021 Langi Shiraz is blue-fruited and aromatic, with black spice and olive brine, field flowers and crushed rocks. It is kind of ethereal in its way. It has an authentic feeling, of the earth, and it's floral, fine and long, with substance and finesse. This is a superstar wine; it's really great. No whole-bunch grapes were used in this vintage. The block was largely planted in 1969. 14.8% alcohol (although if I had to guess, I would have said it was almost a whole percent less, such is its delicacy), sealed under screw cap. Drink to 2045.

96+ points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate

The exceptional 2021 Shiraz Langi is supremely youthful and energetic, delivering a tight and robust core of tarry, licorice and roasted meats laced with hot granite and dark spices. Great tension follows, with dense, ripe dark berries, new leather, tobacco and rivers of chalky tannin. Granitic minerality holds a steady over a finish of exceptional length. It's too young to drink now, but it will offer plenty over the coming decade and beyond. Drink 203 to 2044.

95 points Angus Hughson for Vinous, November 2024

This shiraz offers an enticing nose of blackberries complemented by cracked pepper, lavender and cedar. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with a bright and elegant dark fruit profile, delicate feathery tannins and a graceful expression of fruit. Big, yet so harmonious and detailed.

94 points Jacobo García Andrade for James Suckling, November 2024

Gariweld/The Grampians National Park the is western extremity of the Great Dividing Range and deeply tied to the Djab Wurrung and Jardwadjali peoples, who have called this home for over 20,000 years. In the language of the Djab Wurrung people, Langi Ghiran translates to Home of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo.

Grampians vineyards sit to the east of the national park on granite sands over sedimentary red clay loam, ideal at moderating natural vigour in vines. This is cool-climate viticulture, with a 350-metre elevation, mean temperatures below those of Launceston in Tasmania and cold prevailing winds from the Southern Ocean.

The Langi Shiraz is made from grapes from the Old Block planted in 1969 with a pre-phylloxera Shiraz clone obtained from Best’s Concongella vineyard, and is among the oldest clonal material of its kind in the world. The 2021 vintage was cool and even, producing fruit of exceptional concentration without sacrificing the elegance this site is known for. Grapes were fermented without whole bunches and matured for 16 months in French oak barriques, half of which were new.

Pour the Langi Shiraz and it fills the room with dark cherries, blackberry and plum that carry a medley of black spice: pepper, clove, caraway and cassia bark. The palate is full yet fluid, with silken tannins and natural acidity that lifts and focuses a finish of exceptional length. This is a wine of genuine substance and finesse in equal measure.