Wine Reviews

An excellent wine from Coonawarra, unusually it is a Shiraz not a Cabernet. Rich shiraz fruit flavours of black fruit and cedar with lovely integrated oak. Balanced and complex with a long finish. This wine could easily be from one of the more renowned Shiraz region. It proves that the Coonawarra can make really good Shiraz.

Henschke's top wine and one of the best in Australia and 2008 was a very good year. It is a single vineyard wine so you get whatever the year provided. A complex and intense wine that is still very young. You sort of have to sip your way through it as it opens up in the glass. It has great length and a rich smooth texture. Flavours of black fruit and spice that keep evolving. A beautiful drink now but will get better for a long time yet.

The Cyril Henschke is Henschke's top of the line Cabernet blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. It is from the Eden Valley so is in the more elegant, complex and concentrated style. Flavours of blackcurrants and cedar and long smooth tannins. An excellent wine with a long future in front of it.

Beautiful flavours of plum, blackberries, spice and pepper and a long smooth finish. The refined style of Eden Valley Shiraz doesn't come much better than this. Drinking very well now and will cellar and develop for a long time yet.

This straight Shiraz starts to show the difference between Shiraz from the higher altitude Eden Valley, compared to the lower and warmer Barossa Valley. Lovely black fruit flavours with integrated oak. A complex and elegant wine with flavours that keep evolving in the glass.

This is Henschke's version of a Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre and it is a good one. Still fresh and young but a bigger and better balanced wine than the Henry's Seven. Flavours of blueberry and plums and a good blend. Drinking well now but will cellar for some time yet.

A Henschke variation on the usual Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend with the Merlot being the dominant variety. Consequently its a softer wine with flavours of mulberries and plums. The tannins are fine and the finish long. Another elegant Henschke wine.

Henry's Seven is an interesting and unusual blend of Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier. It could be considered an entry level wine for the Henschke range. Medium bodied and slightly sweet thanks to the Grenache component. The Viognier is immediately noticeable with floral and apricot aromas and flavours. A fresh and juicy wine intended more for consumption now rather than long term cellaring.

Twisted Gum is a small family-run vineyard in the Granite Belt with only three hectares of vines. The Chardonnay is unoaked. It is a very pale colour. The flavours are subtle, tropical fruit, pineapple, a bit herbaceous and a suggestion of some unripe fruit.