HENSCHKE HILL OF GRACE SHIRAZ 2021

100/100 Ken Gargett, Quill and Pad
100/100 Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal 
20+/20 Matthew Jukes, MatthewJukes.com

Hill of Grace is regarded as Australia's best single vineyard wine, this 2021 vintage is being touted as one of the best ever releases.

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Deep crimson with violet hues. Spicy, perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, anise, violets, tomato leaf and cedar, with notes of bay leaf, black olive, crushed flowering herbs, cinnamon and cardamom. The palate is bright, vibrant and textural with pristine cassis building into complex layers of cocoa, cedar and sandalwood. Balanced acidity provides freshness and structure to the plush fruit, framed by an elegant tannin profile that persists through to the long fine, seamless finish."

99/100 Dave Brookes, James Halliday's Wine Companion, March 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"This release will go down in the annals of Australian fine wine as one of the classic releases for Hill of Grace…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."

99/100 Ryan Montgomery, JamesSuckling.com (2021 Vintage)
"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…It is truly exceptional, and is an icon of Australia for a reason."

98/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, March 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"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."

98/100 Natasha Hughes MW, Decanter, March 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"The pre-phylloxera vines planted on their own roots stretch out in front of the beautiful old Lutheran Gnadenberg church, whose name translates to ‘Hill of Grace’. At the moment the wine is tightly coiled, but time in the glass allows it to open up and reveal layers that hint at its potential for mature splendour. The list of fruit characters is long – there’s red plum, cedarwood, bitter cocoa, Szechuan peppercorns, blood oranges and garrigue – but as soon as you list one flavour you’re struck by a completely different note. There’s nothing shouty about this wine, just subtle waves of flavour that roll over the palate, effortless balance and a finish that stretches towards infinity. Yes, it’s expensive, but it comes pretty darn close to perfection. Matured in 13% new, 87% seasoned hogsheads (84% French, 16% American) for 18 months."

96/100 Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, April 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"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."

97+/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, April 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"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"

18++/20 Jancis Robinson, JancisRobinson.com (2021 Vintage)
"Transparent crimson. So much going on here! So sweet and richly medicinal initially and then amazingly fresh on the finish. Ambitious framework with the fruit bouncing off the beams of that framework. Lots of energy here. A baby, but a very beautiful one. 24 hours after opening the wine was still bedazzling and had arguably changed a little less than the Hill of Roses 2021."