Hentley Farm, Beauty Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Still deep garnet. Nose is very intense with licorice, spices, pepper and noticeable alcohol. Full body, mature grainy tannins, licorice flavours hit first, with spices, plum and dark fruit and fruit liqueur. Good intensity. Long licorice and dark fruit induced aftertaste. For me a bit over the top but good wine.

Ok but not great; less than we’d expected.

Still young and vibrant, very intense cassis

Sweet spot! Drink now. It's super soft and supple, with just enough flavor. I feel like another couple of years and this will be "over the hill".

Still very enjoyable!

One off purchase ($36.99) from the big box wine store about 4.5 years ago. On the nose and palate, intense notes of violets, blue and blackberries, black and red currants, earthy minerality, white pepper, smoke and a bit of black coffee. Deep purple, medium bodied, medium thick legs. Intense acidity on the pour, medium++ tannins, no heat. God complexity, VG intensity and persistence. Geographically from Barossa but with a heart a lot closer to the recent Cote Rotie than the …

Superb Barossa Shiraz but in a northern Rhône style....a touch feminine! Lovely dark fruit, glorious mid weight texture and long finish.

Wow. This thing is fantastic. She sure is pretty, with a lighter, more delicate style accentuated by a touch of viogner. Reminiciscent almost of Rhône style, rather than the big, heady reds you may expect from the barossa. Soft tannins beautifully integrated at this stage of her evolution. It’s really going down a treat.

Cork broke apart when opening - very dry - seems strange for such a young wine. Decanted for about 2 hours prior to serving. The color on this is deep dark red/leaning purple. On the nose there are scents of blackberry jam. The palate is not jammy as the nose would indicate, clearly fruit forward but in a soft silky package. The tannins here are pretty supple but overall this seems to want a bit more acidity to provide some …

I was able to compare the 2013 Beauty side by side with the 2014. Both are wonderful wines, but I think the 2014 won out just slightly with its much more floral, fragrant nose. Both were very well balanced. Smooth finish.

Saturated, very dark ruby color; aromatic, savory, sweet spice, nutmeg, berry graphite nose; complex, delicious, berry, sweet spice, nutmeg, graphite palate; needs 3 years; medium-plus finish

Game of Rhones (Carriageworks, Redfern) : smoky, dusty, quite muted and closed. Another ripe fruit, over oaked, closed down Aussie Shiraz. A far more rare occurrence than you might think. Meh for this