RRP:
|Deep ruby with vibrant crimson hues. Ethereal aromas of blackberry, raspberry compote, Satsuma plum, star anise and cocoa, entwined with crushed flowering herbs, fresh bay leaf, dried sage and rose petal. The palate is rich, complex, powerful and mouth coating with incredible freshness and elegant, silky layers of dark blackberry, Satsuma plum and red currant, a savoury line of charcuterie, and mature, velvety tannins revealing seamless length and depth.
Product Information
- Vintage
- 2017
- Grape variety breakdown
100% Shiraz
- Technical Details
- Alcohol: 14.5% | pH:
3.52
| Acidity:6.4g/L
| Volume: 1500mls
- Harvest Date
18 – 21 April
- Maturation
Matured in 29% new and 71% seasoned (83% French, 17% American) oak hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling.
- Background
Over 180 years ago, Johann Christian Henschke came from Silesia to settle and build his farm in the Eden Valley region. By the time third-generation Paul Alfred Henschke took over the reins in 1914, the now famed Hill of Grace vines were more than 50 years old. The original vines, known as the ‘Grandfathers’, were planted circa 1860 by an ancestor, Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just north-west of the Henschke family winery. The red-brown earth grading to deep silty loam has excellent moisture-holding capacity for these dry-grown vines, that sit at an altitude of 400m, with an average rainfall of 520mm. Hill of Grace is a unique, delineated, historic single vineyard that lies opposite a beautiful old Lutheran church, which is named after a picturesque region in Silesia known as Gnadenberg, translating to ‘Hill of Grace’. Cyril Henschke made the first single-vineyard shiraz wine from this vineyard in 1958 from handpicked grapes vinified in traditional open-top fermenters. The original Ancestors (vines over 125 years) are now approximately 160 years old and remain the heart of the Hill of Grace wine, along with a small selection of Centenarians (vines over 100 years), and Old Vines (over 35 years) all planted on their own-roots.
- Cellaring potential
Exceptional vintage; 35+ years (from vintage).
Vintage Description
A later start to picking and a mild period of ripening finished with the last grapes being picked in mid-May. A wet 2016 winter gave us a good foundation for our predominantly dry-grown vines on their own roots, and a cool, wet and fiercely windy spring followed, with a slightly higher spring rainfall than the Barossa Valley, which delayed flowering, though conditions during set meant that yields were at average levels. A mild summer with regular rainfall events followed, which allowed the grapes to reach full physiological maturity. The significant rainfall events largely missed our area and therefore we harvested the majority of our grapes in healthy condition. As always, careful hand picking in the vineyard and sorting of grapes as they were processed made sure that quality was not compromised.
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