The Society’s Exhibition Victoria Shiraz 2020

Mount Langi is an impressive, densely forested hill in one of the cooler spots in the state of Victoria. The aboriginal name, impressive in its economy, means ‘home of the yellow-tailed black cockatoo.’ The vineyards here nestle between two dramatic mountain ranges, the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, and the spectacular peaks of the Grampians National Park.

The original vineyards were planted in the 1870s when European immigrants travelled to Western Victoria in search of gold. Bringing vines with them from Europe, they set about working the land, creating what are now some of Australia’s oldest vineyards. The vines were replaced by sheep at the turn of the century, but the site was re-established in 1963 by Italian immigrants, the Fratin brothers, who discovered that conditions were favourable for the production of the spicy, complex red wine we now know as Mount Langi Shiraz.

The elevated sites here benefit from a nightly cooling-down, particularly in autumn, when the grapes are ripening, as the cold air tumbles down the mountains and flows through the valley. Another advantage of the mountains is a shadowing effect which shortens the effective sunshine hours and protects the vineyards from overexposure. These microclimatic phenomena account for the distinctive characteristics of Mount Langi Shiraz and we are immensely proud to have secured the estate’s benchmark shiraz for bottling under our own label. The Society’s Exhibition Victoria Shiraz has intense aromas and flavours of pepper, vanilla and blackcurrant-mulberry fruit.

Also from Mount Langi comes Billi Billi Shiraz, named in honour of one of the original aboriginal chiefs of the region in the 1860s.