MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN Cliff Edge Shiraz, Grampians

Cliff Edge is a savoury, spicy Victorian Shiraz that rates among the very best, for both quality and value. As veteran commentator Chris Shanahan says, Cliff Edge is ‘about as sexy as Shiraz gets at the price – beautifully, sweetly aromatic with a vibrant, fruity palate to match’. Since 2008, Cliff Edge has been made entirely from estate-grown fruit, mostly from a 1981 vineyard established using cuttings from the original 1967 plantings, which are themselves from the 140-year-old Concongella vine nursery at Great Western.

This is the famous pre-phylloxera ‘Swiss clone’, introduced by Swiss immigrants on their way to the goldfields, and representing some of the oldest Shiraz clonal material in the world. It is perfectly matched to the cool Grampians climate and consequently long autumn ripening period. This fruit makes a wine that is supple, fine and long, already showing complex and layered aromas and flavours – it is another legacy of (and tribute to) the late Trevor Mast, Mount Langi Ghiran’s visionary founding winemaker.