Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
As the name suggests, this wine is indeed big and powerful, but it's elegant and classy too. Heady notes of violets, red berries, smoked meat, white pepper and licorice are entwined with tightly wound, fine-grained tannins. One for the cellar. Drink 2019–2032.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
Impressive, with bold wild blueberry, kirsch and blackberry flavors that are powerful and persistent, pure and focused. Earth, sage and white pepper accents show on the long, velvety finish. Drink now through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Shiraz / Viognier The Beauty has a medium to deep garnet-purple color and lovely, perfumed black fruits nose of lavender, potpourri, dried Provence herbs and kirsch plus a waft of anise. Soft, silky and seductive on the medium to full-bodied palate, this wine delivers a lot of spicy nuances and wonderful texture, finishing with great. Hey, it is what the name says!
Rating: 91+
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.