Shiraz is Australia’s signature grape variety: we make a wider range of Shiraz styles – and from more climatically diverse regions – than any other country in the world. Tasting a selection of these wines together has endless potential for fascination.
Huon Hooke takes a look at some of Australia’s best Shiraz from seven different wine regions.
Follow this link to view the top 2017 Shiraz from the Barossa Valley.
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Hentley Farm The Creation Shiraz 2017
#4 of 153 2017 Shiraz from Barossa Valley
96/100
DRINK 2021–2042
Very deep, dark red colour with a glint of purple. The bouquet is chocolaty and black-fruited, dark plums and blackberries. Lashings of oak. A big, powerful, concentrated shiraz with loads of fruit and oak and tannin, somehow retaining its balance. Long, satisfing follow-through. It’s a whopper! There’s a lot of oak, but the wine is big enough to handle it. Cellaring recommended.
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Hentley Farm Clos Otto Shiraz 2017
#6 of 153 2017 Shiraz from Barossa Valley
96/100
DRINK 2022–2042
Deep, rich red/purple colour, very youthful and bright. Toasty oak, earthy, blackberry and chocolate aromas, with traces of spice and mint. It’s full-bodied and forceful, intense and rich, with brilliant energy and vitality. The palate is very full-bodied, lively and strong, with abundant supple, ripe tannins that melt in the mouth. A hint of choc-mint on the end-palate. A superb example of a big Barossa shiraz. (60-65% new French oak).
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Hentley Farm The Beauty Shiraz 2017.
#28 of 153 2017 Shiraz from Barossa Valley
94/100
DRINK 2021–2037
Deep, dark red/purple colour, youthful and bright, the bouquet fresh and chocolaty, plummy and blackberry-ish. The wine is black-fruited and has a streak of blackstrap licorice. Intense, concentrated, focused and streamlined, it has a touch of elegance and a tremendously long carry. It’s bright, fruit-driven and impressive.
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Hentley Farm The Beast Shiraz 2017.
#63 of 153 2017 Shiraz from Barossa Valley
92/100
DRINK 2022–2037
Very deep, dark, glossy red/purple colour, with a strongly oaked bouquet, the palate super-ripe and massively proportioned, with heaps of intensity and guts. A big-boned, brawny red which is loaded with masses of tannin which grips and dries the finish – but it manages to avoid clumsiness. Good acidity keeps it fresh and alive.
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#89 of 153 2017 Shiraz from Barossa Valley
90/100
DRINK 2019–2030
Very deep purple/red colour with a very meaty, charcuterie-like reductive bouquet, very young and primal, with spicy, humus-like notes underneath. It’s concentrated and rich, with elegance and essency concentration. A wine of real depth, but you need to accept the reduction.