QHA_February_Mag_Web

WINE with John Rozentals
Mount Langi Ghiran’s Hollows Vineyard … protected from western Victoria’s cold south-westerlies.
A SCRUMMY NEW RED
Trevor Mast, who died aged just 63 in March 2012,
developed vineyards at several sites in the foothills of his
beloved Mount Langi Ghiran, in western Victoria.
Among them was the Hollows vineyard, established in
1996 on a site protected from the cold south-westerlies
and with a variety of aspects and soil types suited to
producing a range of the wine styles that Mast
was seeking.
The name is derived from both the surname of the
property’s previous owner and the undulating nature
of the landscape of the little valley that this vineyard
occupies at the northern end of Mount Langi Ghiran.
The first shiraz under the Mount Langi Ghiran Hollows
Vineyard label was produced from the 2010 vintage
and received immediate acclaim for its soft and
approachable, yet quite richly flavoured cool-climate
style.
During the 2015 vintage, a block of the Italian red variety
sangiovese from the Hollows vineyard caught the eye —
and obviously the palate — of the Mount Langi Ghiran
winemaking team, who found it individual enough and
delicious enough to commit to the production of a new
wine under the Mount Langi Ghiran Hollows
Vineyard label.
I certainly found it delicious enough to include as one of
my wines of the month.
Visit www.langi.com.au.
TOP SHELF with John Rozentals
MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN
2015 Shiraz
ISOBEL ESTATE
2016 Chardonnay
MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN
2015 Sangiovese
QHA REVIEW | 48
Softness and
approachability seem to
be consistent keys to the
structure of Langi shiraz
and they certainly shine
here. Look for richly layered
flavours of dark berryfruits
intertwined with the lifted
scents of spices. Match
with some really top steak,
straight off the char grill.
For most of the winedrinking
world, New
Zealand’s Marlborough
region is synonymous
with sauvignon blanc. This
wine is proof that other
grape varieties also do
well there. It was recently
crowned Champion Wine
of Show at the Air New
Zealand Wine Awards, the
first time in 25 years that a
Marlborough chardonnay
had won that trophy.
The flavours of red
cherries, with distinct
herbal notes, are the keys
to this lovely mediumbodied
red. Don’t expect
incredibly dense, deep
colour. Sangiovese just
isn’t like that. Instead
you get a glass of joyful,
fruit-driven, food-friendly
red that would go a treat
in your local bistro with a
bowl of red-sauced pasta.