Cats & Dogs & Shiraz

After the garden spruce up and dinner, our final stop for the evening was smack-dab in front of the big screen watching one of the Elimination Finals in the Aussie Rules Football playoffs. With our resident Aussie, Merlot Boy, in attendance, watching the footy was inevitable.

Tonight's game didn't have an awful lot at stake for any of us since all of Boo's, M.B.'s and my respective teams either didn't make or had already been knocked out of the playoffs. Quite the blow for Merlot Boy since his Hawks were the defending champions. We were to be treated to the Geelong Cats and the Western Bulldogs. Although the Cats were clear favourites, our couch was barracking for the Doggies. (Apparently one doesn't root for one's team Down Under like we do here in the Great White North. To "root" in Oz is to have a go at it in the sack. Aussies always seem to get a kick when we talk about "rooting" for the Canucks - let alone when we wear a Roots sweater or t-shirt.)

And what better to sit back and enjoy an iconic Aussie sport than to sip on an Australian icon - Barossa Shiraz.

183. 2002 Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz (Barossa - Australia)

This is the second vintage of the Langmeil Shiraz that has made it to The List - and, thankfully, there are more to come. Sure, it's a $30 bottle, but it's a wine that I've loved vintage after vintage since I first tried it at charity fundraiser a number of years back. Had never hard of it at the time - but I've never forgotten it since.

Langmeil's vineyards have a long history; however, the current winery ownership and structure has only been in place since 1996. Despite the recent pedigree, James Halliday, one of Australia's premier wine writers has given the winery a 5-star rating, his highest.

The winery's website refers to the valley floor as the heart of the Barossa - "a rich strip of land exposed to the driest conditions" - and this wine is a blend of grapes from selected vineyards from across Barossa sub-regions, with vines aged from 50 to 120 years.

The website lists a fair portfolio of wines; however, we don't see the vast majority of them. Too bad. The ones I've tried are definite keepers.

The wine was better than the game. A televised footy game can be harder to find than a Langmeil wine, so we have to savour the few we get. But this game wasn't the best. The Cats got the better of the Doggies and it didn't have much suspense to it. We'll see what the balance of the playoffs can produce. Good thing the weekend still had a big party to come.