Langton’s Selections ^4 Plantagenet Shiraz, Plantagenet Cabernet Sauvignon When original proprietor Tony Smith, a member of the prominent British bookselling family, established a sheep farm in the very isolated Great Southern region of Western Australia it took a few years for him to realise that the future was in ultra-fine wine rather than ultra-fine wool. The vineyards are the oldest in the Mount Barker sub-region producing extraordinarily high quality fruit. The heart of Plantagenet Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the original old vines planted in 1968 at Bouverie. A portion of Merlot and younger Cabernet Franc material is blended in the wine to give mid-palate richness. The wine is batch vinified in static fermenters with regular pumping over. At dryness, the wine is allowed an extended maceration on skins to polymerise and resolve tannin structure. Some of the batches are partially barrel fermented to achieve further complexity. The wines are aged for approximately 2 years in a combination of new, first and second year old French oak. By the time the wine has been bottled, Plantagenet Cabernet Sauvignon has been aged in approximately 30% to 50% new oak. This extraordinarily well-made wine expresses the riper spectrum of Cabernet Sauvignon with bright cassis aromas, underlying oak, ripe, fine-grained tannins and high concentration. The Shiraz (first vintage 1974) is a definitive Great Southern style and derives principally from the estate’s cool climate vineyards Bouverie and Wyjup and the warmer sited Charleston Vineyard. The wine is matured in 40% new and old French oak for a period of 16-18 months. Plantagenet, now owned by WA based family owned Lionel Samson Group, has established a very fine reputation for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. However, it has a moderate profile on the secondary market. Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's