Langmeil The Freedom 1843 Shiraz

Description

Langmeil The Freedom 1843 Shiraz is made from grapes sourced from Langmeil’s original vineyard, the Freedom Vineyard, in the Barossa Valley which was planted in 1843 and survives to this day. These are believed to be the some of the oldest and rarest Shiraz vines in the world.

The vineyard was planted by German settler Christian Auricht whose Lutheran family was escaping religious persecution and war in Prussia, just seven years after the state of South Australia was colonised. It is located in the banks of the North Para River adjacent to Langmeil’s modern winery. There was a winery in operation at the estate from 1932 to 1988, but it had fallen into disrepair when the local Bitter and Lindner families re-established the abandoned vineyards and winery in 1996. Langmeil are committed to making premium Barossa wine of the highest quality and they believe that the secret lies within the vineyard.

Langmeil The Freedom 1843 Shiraz has always been vinified separately from all their other Shiraz. The old, gnarled, low-yielding dry grown vines are situated on alluvial loam and red clay over limestone and ironstone soils. The roots descend over 15 metres into the soil and the yield is a tiny 10 hl/ha or two tonnes per acre. All the grapes for Langmeil The Freedom 1843 Shiraz are carefully hand picked from a  one-acre patch of ancient, proud and dry-grown vines. The grapes are destemmed prior to a relatively cool fermentation in open tanks for 7 days with twice daily pumping over before basket pressing. The wine is aged for 24 months in 44% new and 56% seasoned French oak Hogsheads and Barriques prior to blending and bottling.

In May 2014, The Freedom 1843 Shiraz joined the prestigious Langton’s Classification VI honour roll in the category of ‘Excellent’.