Langmeil 3 Gardens

It didn't take that long to head back for another bottle of Langmeil. I guess I just enjoyed the Grenache so much on New Year's Eve that it was worth reaching for another bottle from these guys.

326. 2002 Langmeil Three Gardens (Barossa - Australia)

Most of the Langmeil that we have on hand is the Valley Floor Shiraz but I'd picked up this Three Gardens some time ago to give one of the winery's other products a try. This "traditional" Rhone blend isn't generally made for its aging potential (like some of their bigger Shiraz's and Cabs), but we've had this bottle for some years now and it lasted just fine for us.

The back labels tells a brief story about the old Barossa vignerons calling their vineyard the "Garden" and the grapes for this wine is sourced from three of the winery's vineyards in the region. Hence the name.

The blend was 46% Shiraz, 44% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre. Aussie winemakers can often been found making such a blend and, depending on the percentages, will call their wine a GSM, an SGM or whatever combination is applicable. Although I don't think you'd normally see a wine sold over here as an MSG - unless the winery just decides not to use the abbreviation in its marketing.

Considering that the Shiraz grapes used are those that would otherwise be headed for our beloved Valley Floor, I guess it should be no surprise that we enjoyed this bottle as much as we did. Balance, structure and fruit forward. If that's the kind of wine you like, you could well like Langmeil as much as I do.