Langton's new classification appraised

Crikey. Has it really been almost 25 years since Langton's Fine Wine Auctions compiled its first classification of Australian wines? It feels like only yesterday that the then-start-up company rattled the cage of this country's wine establishment by daring to suggest a 'form guide' of top labels based on value and volume of demand at auction.

Now, of course, Langton's is the establishment: the auction company was acquired in 2009 by supermarket giant Woolworths, arguably Australia's most powerful player in the wine trade, with large stakes in all aspects of the industry from production and bottling to online and high-street...