Henry’s Drive Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
- 91
- $40
- Drink by: 2021 - 2026
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There aren’t many Australian mother-and-daughter wine companies. Kim and Margo Longbottom at Henry’s Drive run against the gender tide.
The 2019 McLaren Vale red blend of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon – the classic Aussie-created red – hails from a tough vintage in the region with reduced yields due to heat and water stress. The good news is that the wine came through in top form highlighting solid integration and elegance.
Shiraz at 68% is definitely the main character in this twosome leading the way with largely unadorned ripe red fruits, violets and spice, while cabernet brings its earthy line in fruit intensity and pretty aromatics with a touch of dried herbs.
It’s definitely more than a slurpable youngster, there is polish here, a degree of elegance, too, and that should bode well as it moves into the future. Oak is nicely sitting back and watching the fruit show. Understated, elegant tannins seal the deal.
These shiraz cabernet partnerships are fun, after all, they were invented by Aussies because they could blend the two disparate grape varieties and, possibly more importantly, because the Europeans couldn’t. But they can be serious wines.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
