Langton’s Selections ^4Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz, Leasingham Classic Clare Cabernet Sauvignon The Leasingham Winery is owned by the Constellation Group. The business was originally formed in 1893 by four partners: Joseph Knappstein (a merchant), Dr. Wein-Smith (a general practitioner), Magnus Badger (a solicitor) and John Cristion a local brewer. They called the fledgling business The Stanley Wine Company and named it after the local state electorate district name. In 1903 it was producing 378, 000 litres of wine buying “practically speaking all the grapes in the district”. The winery was bought out by Joseph Knappstein in 1912 and it remained in family hands until 1972. After the end of UK Imperial Preference duties in 1938, fortunes ebbed and flowed. A period of substantial vineyard development, especially around the Watervale sub-region, followed in the 1950s including the planting of Clare’s first Riesling vines considered by observers at the time as wrong-headed. Indeed ‘Leasingham’ derives from the name of a now long-gone 19th century coach and horse way station located a few kilometres south of Watervale. The red wine boom of the 1970s precipitated a period of speculation and takeover. Out of family hands, the winery became a major bulk wine producer with a great reputation for high quality but cheap cask wine. Notwithstanding economic fortunes, Leasingham has been a proving ground for many well known winemakers including Tim Knappstein, Brian Barry and Tim Adams. In the late 1980s renewed focus, energy and capital resulted in the release of the highly successful Classic Clare label. Indeed the 1994 Classic Clare Shiraz established its pedigree by winning the highly coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy at the Melbourne Wine Show. In 2005 it was included in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine illustrating a healthy level of interest on the secondary wine market. Classic Clare Shiraz fruit is principally sourced from the windswept dry land Schober’s Vineyard just north of Auburn and the mature Old Provis vineyard 5 kilometres north east of Clare. The low yielding vines, on variable soils of Terra Rossa and slate, are constantly in a rain shadow and yield extremely concentrated Shiraz fruit. The wine is batch vinified in small open fermenters. The wine is nowadays matured in a blend of new (60-80%) and old French barriques for approximately 18 months. The resulting wines are richly flavoured, with highly defined plum/berry/mocha fruit characters, chocolaty tannins and integrated savoury oak. These opulent densely packed wines are “regionally hallmarked” with a strong firm structure. These are generally medium term cellaring wines. Under the Classic Clare Label Leasingham, also produces an archetypal Cabernet Sauvignon, a really good Sparkling Shiraz and a well regarded Riesling. Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's