Henry's Seven

I love Henschke's wines. They are iconic Australian wines. I have a bottle of the 1996 'Hill of Grace' Shiraz in the cellar - I am so looking forward to trying this in a few years time.

Henschke, Henry's Seven, 2005, Barossa Valley, Australia.

This wine is a blend of Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier. The wine has a beautiful, rich, ripe nose, full of soft violet tinged dark fruits and freshly crushed raspberries. There is well placed peppery plummy edges with brilliantly integrated oak. There is a real elegance to this wine. This wine is also beautifully complex; each time I pick up the glass I get something new. Nice warming aromas on the nose too like fine leather. The precise fruit carries over to the palate undergirded by soft supple tannins. Lovely savoury complexity to the palate. The palate is full of ripe fruit covered in fresh peppery spice. There is also a bit of heat from the high alcohol content but this is not a burning heat, more like a tingling warmth which thankfully does not distract from the wine. This is a beautiful complex wine - will definitely buy more of this. 4.6/5 (15% abv) £16.99 Waitrose.