Snakes and Pizza

Tasting the Langmeil 2006 Hangin’ Snakes Shiraz – Viognier

Megan and I purchased this wine after tasting it a little while ago at the Wine Cellar. We took it over to my parent’s house for my dad’s birthday, as we were having pizza from his favorite local spot Angelo’s, and thought it would be a good match. (which it was!)

The 2006 Hangin’ Snakes Shiraz – Viognier ($21) is a blend of 95% Shiraz and 5% Viognier all from the Barossa Valley. The Barossa Valley is located in South Central Australia which is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and dry summers between 86 and 95 degrees on average.  Langmeil (which means long mile) dry farms almost all of their vines as do most farmers in Barossa. Doing so forces the vines to set their roots deeper in the soil to find water, which in theory leads to better grape quality and flavor than ones grown on irrigated vines.  The wine saw time in both new and old French Oak before making it’s way into the bottle. 

My Tasting Notes – 

Nose – Earth, Blackberry, Barnyard

Taste – Raspberry, green olive, coffee, fudge

Mouthfeel –Not Hot (14.9% alcohol), really solid mouthfeel, very soft especially for a Shiraz

Finish – Medium to long with the chocolate and coffee flavors lingering on the palate 

This was a very nice wine, that started off really fruity, but after being open for only around a half hour to 45 minutes, it started to show off some old world character.  The fruitiness was still present throughout but notes of earth and funky barnyard started to come through that provided a very nice flavor combination.  I had already tasted this wine before I bought it so I knew I liked it, but actually progressing through the whole bottle gave a different experience with each glass we poured.  I didn’t get many aromatic notes from the Viognier, but I really think it contributed to the softer and heavier than normal mouthfeel of the wine. 

If you see it at your local wine shop, I recommend picking up a bottle and giving it a try.

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