Henschke 'Hill Of Grace' Shiraz 2021

Tasting Notes

Scores

100 / 100

"Medium deep crimson. Expressive raspberry, blackberry, cassis, hint elderberry/violet/ sage aromas with mocha, marzipan notes. Elegant yet powerful, dense but buoyant palate with ample blackberry pastille, blackcurrant, raspberry fruits, fine supple/ grainy tannins, lovely mid palate volume/ richness and superbly balanced grilled almond, roasted chestnut notes. Finishes claret firm with a featherweight plume of bittersweet tannins. A beguiling and lasting landmark Hill of Grace vintage with wonderful definition, vinosity and torque."
- Andrew Caillard MW

20+ / 20

"“While its scale is breathtakingly impressive, there is thrilling elegance here, too. This is a spectacular wine from start to finish, with every molecule in its place. There is a complete directory of this vineyard’s flavours on display in this wine, seemingly cataloguing every nuance from the glorious, inaugural 1958 until the present day and delivering them in epic harmony. It seems to embrace its ancient history and communicate it in a thoroughly modern language... 2021 is a genuinely humbling wine, and it represents another chapter of wonder in the legend of this ancient land.”"
- Matthew Jukes

100 / 100

"The 60th release of this famous wine. Many years down the track, expect this to sit amongst the greatest the vineyard has given us. This famous old vineyard in Eden Valley next to the wonderful and scenic Lutheran church, was planted back around 1860, with pre-phylloxera material brought out by a family ancestor, Nicolaus Stanitzki. The first vintage was 1958. Hill of Grace was not made in 1960, 1974, 2000 and 2011. If the pass mark is a perfect or near perfect score, this walks it in. There is some of that exuberance we saw in the Hill of Roses, but this is more serious, more intense, concentrated and complex. We have tobacco leaves, cassis (one note I made was that it was like an alcoholic cassis smoothie), sage, black fruits, dried herbs, aniseed, and a touch of forest floor. Knife-edge balance, incredible length, that creamy and seductive texture, silk tannins – this is an amazing wine which more than lives up to the hype. Well cellared examples should provide immense pleasure over the next forty to fifty years. 100."
- Ken Gargett – Winepilot.com

99 / 100

"Good depth of lightly purple-rimmed colour; the bouquet is a riot of dried herb scents from thyme to sage and oregano with smoky black pepper, vegetable stock, red and darker fruits including raspberry, dark plum and blackberry. The wine is full-bodied and flows evenly across the tongue, with an effortless intensity and suppleness of texture. Fine tannins are an important part of the very long, high-impact aftertaste. A superb wine of intricate detail and elegance."
- Huon Hooke

99 / 100

"This release will go down in the annals of Australian fine wine as one of the classic releases for Hill of Grace. With a strong vintage and even stronger pedigree, the gnarled old, circa 1860s-planted, shiraz vines have really come up with the goods with this release and as I sit to taste this wine with Stephen Henschke he shakes his head and says, "it just amazes me that my grandmother's grandfather planted these vines". The eagle-eyed will notice a skip in vintage. The yields were down horribly in 2020 across all the Henschke vineyards but man, did 2021 deliver. Super bright magenta/crimson in the glass with a wonderfully deep aromatic profile. Doris plum, blackberry and black cherry with hints of mace, sage, panforte, cedar, dark chocolate, tapenade, pepper, charcuterie, graphite, crushed quartz and violets. From the aromatic detail to the amplitude, purity and flow of fruit, the wine is absolutely on song with stunning length of flavour and presence on the palate, sailing away slowly with tight, fine-grained tannins and the most graceful of travels on the palate. An absolute classic for this wine."
- James Halliday's Wine Companion