For my final weekly column, I review Henschke’s Hill of Grace
The vivid colour, the perfume of the bouquet, the harmony of the red and black fruits, and the reassurance of precisely tailored tannins all add to the triumph.
This is my last weekly column for The Weekend Australian Magazine. I’m pleased to announce I will continue writing for the magazine once a month. The decision to reduce my workload has been mine alone, with a reflection of my age (85). My time will be taken by a project that I have been working on since June 1970 when I attended a tutored tasting by the late Len Evans at his wine bar and restaurant in Bulletin Place, Sydney. That occasion led to a regular series of tastings and dinners at which many remarkable wines – including one dating from 1646 – were consumed and discussed. I’ll be writing a book about these occasions, including all of the menus and tasting notes.
Back to the present and the release of the 2019 Henschke portfolio this week. Over the years I have written 12 columns about Australia’s foremost family winery. A sense of family runs in the blood of the Barossa’s inhabitants, its apotheosis in the Henschke clan. Prue and Stephen are the most decent people I have met in all walks of life. Decent may be an old-fashioned term, but so be it.
They were thrown in the deep end with the death of Stephen’s father Cyril in 1979. They are punctilious in according him with the achievements he created way in front of so many others, including planting cabernet sauvignon in 1969 (against a recorded national crush of 621 tonnes only three years earlier). Single varietal vineyards were rare, and arguably Cyril’s greatest legacy was his purchase of the Mount Edelstone Vineyard from Colin Angas in 1974. Even that was half the story, for it was first bottled as a single vineyard wine by Cyril in 1952.
Hill of Grace had to wait until 1958 to be bottled for sale. Its pre-history was its sale in bulk to those who thought to call into the winery with containers as small as milk churns.
Next week, Nick Ryan will begin writing a weekly wine column in these pages. I look forward to joining him in a month or so.
2019 HENSCHKE HILL OF GRACE
The vivid colour, the perfume of the bouquet, the harmony of the red and black fruits, and the reassurance of precisely tailored tannins all add to the triumph of Prue Henschke in the vineyard, and Stephen Henschke in the winery. The synergy between these parts is such that there’s no hint of a difficult – indeed, very difficult – vintage. 58th release.
99 points, drink to 2049, 14.5% alcohol, Vino-Lok, $975
2019 HENSCHKE MOUNT EDELSTONE
This is, in a manner of speaking, the lady-in-waiting for Hill of Grace – except, of course, she will never upstage Hill of Grace. The wine is utterly flawless, with black cherry, licorice, hedgerow blackberry and spice keeping all the components in Coldstream Guards’ parade precision.
98 points, drink to 2049, 14.5% alcohol, Vino-Lok, $260
2019 HENSCHKE THE WHEELWRIGHT
A particularly generous and forthcoming wine, with blackberry and plum driving the immediate response, the luscious bouquet quickly followed by the intense palate before a second response of elegance and finesse flows from wonderfully crafted tannins.
97 points, drink to 2039, 14.5% alcohol, Vino-Lok, $155
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