Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz 2018

99 Points - Wine Companion

The 60th anniversary of what is widely considered Australia's finest single-vineyard wine. Sometimes you've got to pinch yourself and ponder what a lucky existence this wine hack stuff is, sitting here in the Henschke cellar door having just tasted 26 vintages of Hill of Grace spanning back to 1958. Grace by name, grace by nature, it is an elegant, beautiful wine, tannin–acid architecture on point, the fruit depth is just stunning, dotted with five-spice, sage, pepper, charcuterie, crushed quartz and the most lovely, kinetic tannin structure. Finishes with great sustain, harmony and grace. Voluminous and complex, with amazing fruit density and just a complete wine. A classic!

98 Points - James Suckling

Exceptional vintage. A shy wine at first, a little backward to start with, some smooth creamed spice that builds nicely with spicy plum and sage, red fruits too, some quite ripe fruit characters arrive, youthful and fresh. The palate has crunchy mixed red and dark fruit flavours, smooth nutty tannins and a lovely vibrant core of flavour, darker accents at the finish, supple and even, a stellar vintage, powerful yet elegant. Just approaching its drinking window

98 Points - Erin Larkin

The Hill of Grace vineyard, in Eden Valley, comprises 13 separate blocks, six of which feed into the Hill of Grace Shiraz. The oldest block (0.56 hectares), known as "Grandfathers," was planted around 1860. The other blocks were planted in 1910 (0.33 hectares), 1951 (1.08 hectares), 1952 (0.7 hectares), 1956 (0.88 hectares) and 1965 (0.57 hectares). The 2018 Hill of Grace Shiraz was matured in a combination of new (20%) and seasoned (80%) oak hogsheads (83% French, 17% American) for 18 months prior to blending and bottling. On the nose, the 2018 vintage assists this wine in speaking clearly of its regional location: raspberry and licorice, coal dust, black tea and tobacco leaf. There are inflections of black truffle and bone broth, which always seem to emerge, however the wine is brighter and more focused than I have seen. It offers a beautiful, svelte display of fruit and tannin, with all things in harmony in the mouth. This is very long, as we would expect from the pedigree of this wine and the vineyard. It is concentrated and intense, sinewy, elegant and powerful—a wine for the future generation.