Henschke, Hill of Grace Vineyard, Eden Valley

Nose: plum, dark chocolate, hints of red fruits, rusty leaves, blueberry, cinnamon, rose Notes: It is a pleasure to be able to have a HOG from the 70s as they are really quite rare. An excellent palate can be found here that's condense and intense simultaneously. Despite the age the freshness is still pretty much intact so it's still quite smooth while the structure stood firm. A bit of light brownish brick color on the hue showing clear signs of …

1979 vintage

Same basic notes as recently. Intense but silky and very drinkable. Beautiful blend of dark ripe fruits and dark spice. Time will add further complexity. Superb.

2012 vintage

Red plum, earth, clay brick and a hint of spice on the nose. Herbs and sea breeze appear, tight, precise dark plum, cooked strawberry, earth, mint cooked mint all appear with time in the glass. Resolved, long and bang in the middle of its window. Crisp, pure, balanced and spiced. The finish is wonderfully long and matches the nose and palate. Spicy, long and complex. Every sip brings new aromas and showing things you wouldn't expect. Intriguing and beguiling wine …

1989 vintage

A truly iconic Australian Shiraz; absolutely befitting the Henschke family winery! Genuinely flirting with perfection!

2016 vintage

Absolutely stunning. Huge cassis and ripe raspberry, stewed dark fruit secondary with wonderful balance and acidity and long tobacco and mellow peppery finish. The balance was brilliant.

2012 vintage

Deep red, medium dark . Ripe, aged red berries , plums, bright fruitcake and spice, smooth and refined. Raspberry, chocolate, tar spice, plums, fruitcake, all blended in a silky smooth package. Darker elements dominate mainly. Firm acidity, fine soft tannins. Drinks well, complex now but age will add to it.

2012 vintage

The lone non-Rhone bottle amongst ~20 top-end Syrahs. This held its own while being true to Oz with more intense and present oak with all that dill and sweet toast. But it works nicely with the meaty, pure and oh-so-young black fruit. Super youthful with room to go.

1989 vintage

"The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Chicago, IL) : Would sir like a little syrah with his oak? This is probably one of the oakiest wines I've ever had (excepting all the ones that were incompetently made). I love the distinct American oak notes here, giving it lots of herbal qualities. The fruit is mostly secondary, showing more red than black, and there's a lot of acidity here to keep this wine lifted and bright. A very …

1989 vintage

Simply beautiful. Decanted for 75 minutes before pouring. Massive fruit nose that promised so much. And the taste sure delivered; seamless multilayered glorious fruit, texture like silk and long long finish. Beautifully balanced and elegant but still a powerful Shiraz. Awesome wine now and I suspect even better in the years to come.

2012 vintage

Tightly wound nose: Deep Purple fruit, red currants, smoked pork, tar, peppercorn, hint of sweetness med - heavy weight palate, purple fruit, liquorice, perfumed, bit more peppercorn. med finish, but a wonderful coating of flavour from the mid palate to the finish, touch of acid. Perfectly fruited all the way, supreme balance Sipped small and slowly to allow for all the flavours to surface. Restrained style HOG and better for it. Needs some time: 96+ Rating will go higher with …

2016 vintage

Super dense nose, real fruit concentration and almost an impression of pomace/leather. Impressive power on the nose but again, great restraint here too; cool and fresh entry, superb core of fruit but so much refreshment for what is clearly such a concentrated wine. Very long, with lovely aromatics on the finish. Just goes on and on. Exceptional.

2016 vintage

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Pale garnet to the eyes. More secondary savoury notes. Good fruits but more lean than expected. 94 points. Second round: a lot of fruits. Very much mature but powerful fruits. Third round: some residual oak but in a good way. Enjoyable.

1979 vintage

"Bring your best" wine night (Ch. de Montesquieu) : Absolutely phenomenal wine and a star for me that outshined Petrus, Sassicaia, and some other legends on the same night. This was far younger than most of the other bottles, but it had a rare complexity and exoticness for Shiraz that is undeniable. So worth seeking out.

2012 vintage

A Year Later in Vero...; 3/17/2021-3/21/2021 (Vero Beach) : A definite contender for WOTW. This was opened and then given some air and then poured over maybe a few hours although it felt like the bottle went fairly fast. The first descriptor for this wine was almost always elegant which is quite different from what I'd typically think for an Aussie Shiraz. I think HoG is that more than some others, but with age you really get to see it. …

1989 vintage

Tasting: Chemistry.

2012 vintage

Gorgeous structure cloaked in a velvet robe of raspberry, cassis, cream and a touch of graphite. Medium bodied. This wine has many decades ahead and should shed a bit of it’s current opulence while picking up additional elegance.

2012 vintage

A Matter of Taste: New York (The Conrad NY | Del Posto) : This is another favorite of mine from the tasting. It's just wonderful and balanced and elegant and interesting. Lots of fruit and spice and herbs and earth and its great. I look forward to seeing where this goes in many years.

2012 vintage

Opulent, floral and profound, with loads of black and red fruit, some licorice and spicy oak that stands well alongside the depth of fruit.

2012 vintage

At 208 Restaurant Hong Kong Australia Day Rare Wine Lunch - Light, delicate and elegant. I'm not sure if this is the character of the vintage or these wines were made like this back then but extremely pleasurable nonetheless. One of the top wines of the lunch.

1979 vintage

Festival of Alex - Henschke Hill of Grace Tour : Raspberry, blackberry, toasty and spicy oak, licorice and dark floral notes. Bold flavours, with the fruit covering the oak well. Does find good balance, and the length is stretched out nicely. Certainly far too early to get a final read on this, but it should be great if it has time to find its feet and develop more points of interest.

2012 vintage

2017 New York Wine Experience Trip; 10/16/2017-10/25/2017 (New York City, NY) : There is no denying the impressive quality of Hill of Grace. The 2012 iteration is a deep ruby, highly perfumed wine effusive of lavender, blackberries, blueberries, graphite, exotic spices and tobacco. Full-bodied, vibrant and with nicely integrated alcohol, it weaves in an appropriate amount of oak and has big silky tannins. The middle palate is dense and the finish seems to last forever. This is undeniably classic in …

2012 vintage

Decanted for 2 hours Opening up still at 4 hours Light yet still lifted red fruits Gorgeous wine

1989 vintage

Cork a little dry but came out as one big and three little pieces from the moist end. Colour dark, surprisingy little evidence of brown on the rim. Initial bouquet very enticing - lots of red fruits, complex - but this was gone within five minutes. Palate pleasant, velvety, lightish weight. Finish not desperately long. All secondary flavours, mellow, integrated. Easy drinking. Partnered with top quality beef, turned out that the beef overwhelmed it a little, and it didn't need …

1989 vintage

Unfortunately this wine passed its peak - nose was light - body also was too light and very short

1989 vintage

Magnificently elegant, tasty and peculiar. These wines age so well, it is a shame to drink them any younger than 30!

1979 vintage

Nothing spectacular, past it's prime, but still very drinkable. A bit lighter of what I was expecting. It opened up about 2 hours after decanted, but still too light.

1989 vintage

Vanilla, raspberry, game and chocolate. Good length and interesting texture, but lacking a bit of magic and the depth to really be considered better than excellent.

1989 vintage

RICH BERRY FRUIT AND A TOUCH OF SPICE IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR. ELEGANT AND COMPLEX WINE WITH A MEDIUM TO LONG FINISH.

1989 vintage

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Henschke, Hill of Grace Vineyard, Eden Valley

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