Regional Spotlight: Langhorne Creek

In a breezy corner of South Australia, where towering river red gums set their roots deep into the fertile alluvials of an ancient flood plain, is one of the country’s best-kept viticultural secrets. This unassuming high achiever - home to a handful of family owned wineries - is also the powerhouse producer of some of the country’s most successful and awarded wines. Rightly famous for its rich and aromatic Cabernet, fragrant, full-bodied Shiraz and long-living Malbec, the region is also an enthusiastic incubator of new and emerging varietals.

A River Runs Through it

Two, actually. Langhorne Creek sits between the Bremer and Angas Rivers in the western Fleurieu Peninsula. It’s a comfortable (and pretty) one-hour’s drive from Adelaide, and a mere stone’s throw from Lake Alexandrina. (That’s Alexandrina folks, with an often-overlooked N. It was named for a young Princess who is probably better known by her grown up name, Queen Victoria.) 

The lake is a significant body of water - 3 times the size of Sydney Harbour – and it plays a major role in shaping the climate of the region. Winds, that waft unimpeded from Antarctica, zip across the surface of Lake Alexandrina, keeping temperatures low. The locals call it the Lake Doctor; visitors call it that bloody wind. But it has a dramatic influence on the vines: moderating summer heat and mitigating winter frosts.

Pants on Fire

LHC is the traditional home of the Ngarrindjeri of the lower Murray River, western Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong. Europeans came to the area in the mid 1800s, attracted by the fertile soils of the flood plain. Among them was Alfred Langhorne - known then (and still) as Liar Langhorne, due to his legendary distaste for actual facts. Alfred the Liar passed through the region, droving cattle to Adelaide. At the point where his team crossed the Bremer, Alfred humbly offered up his name, and it became known as Langhorne’s Crossing.

By the time Frank Potts arrived in 1860 - planting the region’s first vineyards and establishing his Bleasdale winery - the name had morphed into Langhorne’s Creek. Fittingly, given Alfred’s arm’s-length association with truth and accuracy, there is no actual creek within cooee of the area.

Putting it on the Map

Frank’s plantings of Shiraz and Verdelho flourished, thanks to the nutrient-rich sediments that arrived courtesy of the frequent floods. Nevertheless, he had the area pretty much to himself until 1891, when Arthur Formby arrived to establish his Metala Vineyard. 

For years, Bleasdale and Metala existed simply as contract growers, supplying grapes to various winemakers. It was years before the name Metala even made it onto a wine label, but when it did, success came quickly and resoundingly – with the 1961 Stonyfell Metala Cabernet Shiraz taking out the inaugural Jimmy Watson Trophy. A few years later, in 1967, the young Wolfgang Blass created the first wine to bear his name: Wolf Blass Grey Label Langhorne Creek Cabernet Shiraz. Its soft, rich, choc-berry and blackcurrant flavours - and Langhorne Creek’s trademark notes of mint and eucalyptus - captured the hearts of Australians, and earned the wine an ongoing place among the Wolf Blass greats. 

When you’re ready to start exploring this fabulous region from the comfort of your lounge, keep an eye out for Metala White Label (timeless: a stalwart!); Pepperjack (the perfect partner for your Porterhouse); or the one that put LHC on the map (and by the way, the 2018 has just been released): Wolf Blass Grey Label Cab Shiraz. Looks like we owe Alfred the Liar a debt of thanks.

Cheers!