2021 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz

Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz has deep historical roots, dating back over 180 years when Johann Christian Henschke settled in the Eden Valley. The renowned Hill of Grace vineyard, planted around 1860 by ancestor Nicolaus Stanitzki, features rich alluvial soil ideal for dry-grown vines. These ancient vines, now around 160 years old, along with Centenarians, Survivors, and Old Vines, form the backbone of this distinguished single-vineyard wine. The vineyard lies at an altitude of 400m, receiving an average rainfall of 520mm, and is named after a Silesian region known as Gnadenberg or ‘Hill of Grace’. Cyril Henschke first produced a single-vineyard Shiraz from these vines in 1958, using traditional methods, and the vineyard's historic significance continues to be celebrated.
The 2021 vintage will be remembered as one of the greats—mild, balanced and producing wines of outstanding purity. Despite early frost and wind challenges, a cool summer and warm autumn provided perfect ripening conditions, yielding Shiraz with exceptional colour, intensity and tannin maturity. Matured 18 months in 13% new and 87% seasoned French and American oak hogsheads, this release recalls legendary vintages such as 1986, 2002, 2005 and 2015, with superb structure and immense long-term cellaring potential.
Alc. 14.5%

Other Reviews....
This outstanding 2021 Shiraz Hill of Grace is a confident young wine built for the long haul in a punchy package that is still tightly wound. It is starting to reveal some of its charms with rocky, licorice, blackberry, and dried herb aromas. The palate is quite extraordinary, particularly the quality of tannins, pithy texture and strident composure, which drive a finish of extreme length and are all accented by deep minerality. The 2021 is a star in the making and easily the best vintage since 2018. Drink 2035 - 2048.
98 Points
Angus Hughson - Antonio Galloni's Vinous

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. Drink 2024-2054.
99 Points
Dave Brookes - Halliday's Australian Wine Companion

Incredibly fresh and refined, with deeply brooding notes of dark plums, mocha, graphite, five spice and cured meat. The palate is ultra-refined and pure, with balanced acidity, seamlessly integrated tannins and a creamy texture, showing complex notes of mulberries, cassia bark, pepper, violets and licorice. It is truly exceptional, and is an icon of Australia for a reason. Made from vines that are over 150 years old. Brilliant. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
99 Points
JamesSuckling.com

The 2021 Hill of Grace Shiraz comes from a vineyard that sits at 400 meters above sea level—a beautiful, remote-feeling place. The vineyard is picked block by block, defined by vine age, soil types, elevation and position within the vineyard. The older vines within the vineyard tend to hold their acidity and retain lower pH with higher natural acidity than the younger vines, which also assists in determining the parcels. "Ironically, this is the simplest wine to make; it's the vineyard that produces the wine like this. It's due to the work in the vineyard over many generations," says Stephen Henschke. So, to the wine. It is pure and fine, with a languid pool of fruit that is characterized by black silty tannins and persistent, seamless length. This speaks of the ancient place, the rocks, the vines. This is just a magnificent, graceful wine here, one that is "immune to hyperbole," as they say. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. The Wheelwright vineyard has 50-year-old vines, Mount Edelstone is over 100 years old, and the ancestor vines in the Hill of Grace vineyard are aver 150 years old. Drink 2025 - 2051.
98 Points
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

“Hill of Grace is produced from pre-phylloxera (vine) material brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. The original vines were planted around 1860 by ancestor Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just north-west of the Henschke family winery.”
This is a super Hill of Grace release but it’s also an interesting one. Indeed it may even be polarising, which is not something often said of Hill of Grace. It’s ripped with dark berried fruit, it’s alive with roasted spice, campfire, undergrowth and earth, it shows enough toasty oak to give it something extra and it lays fine-grained tannin down in the most authoritative of ways. It also exceptionally long – and structural – through the finish, which is the main reason it qualifies as an outstanding release of Hill of Grace Shiraz. The extra interest comes in the wine’s truffle-like top notes. These notes give the aromas an exotic edge. There’s a nuttiness to this wine too; smoked nuts. It’s all going on. The fruit is voluptuous, the quality is clear. It’s Eden Valley Shiraz written in purple prose. Flourishes, there are plenty.
96 Points
Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

A fairytale vintage and a wine of immense approachability. The weather saw great winter rainfall, especially after 2020, a big switch around for the seasons. Summer was one of the coolest since 2002, but good for even and long ripening. “Aren’t we lucky to have these old, ancient vines, on their own roots, in their place, telling their story of there, indeed aren’t we the older, old world in some respects”, says Stephen Henschke.
It’s hard to keep the superlatives packed in the box, the urge to go wild and effusive is all here. Huge in perfume, lots of dried herb and spice, woody notes, dark berry fruits, violets, sage, blueberry, milk chocolate-coated-berries; detail of fruit is amazing. Texture is the main deal, impossibly velvety, concentrated but a sense of freshness. Tannins are molten, mellifluous, supple and persistent. It does do wow factor – no one will miss the pedigree and detail. Epic stuff. Drink 2028-2045+
97+ Points
Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

How long will the 2021 Hill of Grace age for? How long is a piece of string? An exceptional year like 2021 is almost a law unto itself, one where anything is possible age-wise given both the complexity of the wine and its already seamless presence in the glass. It makes quite an impact from the first sniff. Where to start? Oozes class in super fine, intense dark plums, blackberry, liquorice, vanilla, sweet tobacco, woodsmoke, briar and florals that shine in violet and deep florals. The palate has a deep richness, not boldness but in the kind of concentration shown, and it is unctuous and totally charming. American oak (16%) is part of the oak regime together with French oak (84% new) with a total of 13% new hogsheads. This is the usual oak treatment and it works well in both elevating the fruit and providing the kind of strong, fine tannins required for the long journey ahead. And, rest assured, there is a long journey to come. Drink 2025-2050.
99 Points
Jeni Port - WinePilot.com