Hentley Farm The Beauty Shiraz 2016

The Beauty, a fitting partner to the Beast, is a wine of elegance... Grown on the coolest block on the property and co-fermented with a touch of Viognier, the Beauty displays complex lifted aromatics, along with the softness and subtlety befitting a wine of this name.

Very deep red/purple colour, very youthful. Aromas of banana, cherry, raspberry: fruit-driven and shows less obvious super-ripeness than some vintages. It seems less oaky and more fruit-forward too. Fresh and fragrant, bright and lively and somewhat atypical. You can sense the viognier (although it's a tiny fraction of the wine). There's no lack of intensity or weight, though. Dare I say it's a more elegant style 12 OCT 2017 Drink 2017–2036. 94 points Huon Hooke, The Real Review