"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."
99 Points
Dave Brooks, The Halliday Wine Companion
"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."
98 Points
Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
"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."
97+ Points
Mike Bennie, The Wine Front