The Hill of Grace vineyard, in Eden Valley, comprises 13 separate blocks, six of which feed into the Hill of Grace Shiraz. The oldest block (0.56 hectares), known as "Grandfathers," was planted around 1860. The other blocks were planted in 1910 (0.33 hectares), 1951 (1.08 hectares), 1952 (0.7 hectares), 1956 (0.88 hectares) and 1965 (0.57 hectares). The 2018 Hill of Grace Shiraz was matured in a combination of new (20%) and seasoned (80%) oak hogsheads (83% French, 17% American) for 18 months prior to blending and bottling. On the nose, the 2018 vintage assists this wine in speaking clearly of its regional location: raspberry and licorice, coal dust, black tea and tobacco leaf. There are inflections of black truffle and bone broth, which always seem to emerge, however the wine is brighter and more focused than I have seen. It offers a beautiful, svelte display of fruit and tannin, with all things in harmony in the mouth. This is very long, as we would expect from the pedigree of this wine and the vineyard. It is concentrated and intense, sinewy, elegant and powerful—a wine for the future generation. Henschke is one of two Australian wineries awarded the Green Emblem award, which recognizes their leadership in sustainability, toward long-term environmental health and biodiversity. The wines are of exceptional quality and regional specificity across the board, and the release of the 2018 Hill of Grace Shiraz (and the other top-tier reds from the same exceptional vintage) is a cause for excitement for writers and collectors alike. This year, due to pressing travel commitments, I sadly missed the 60th anniversary celebration hosted at the winery, where 26 vintages of Hill of Grace were opened, with bottles from all six decades of its production. It was a devastating blow to miss the tasting, but I'm fortunate to have tasted this wine many times over the years from various decades, and I am convinced that it evolves into a graceful wine of expressiveness and "sense of place." The 2018 vintage was a beauty: warm, largely free from disease pressure and responsible for a suite of wines across the region that still today speak of vitality, energy and grace. It will go down as one of the greats of the past decade and likely more and, for me, is on par with the great 2015.

This remarkable wine is rich, dense and generous yet also restrained and wonderfully elegant, with silky tannins and flavors ranging from fresh, fleshy black cherry, wild blackberry and baked plum cobbler fruit to sage and rosemary. The long, epic finish shows strong, malty Assam black tea and whiffs of sandalwood and rose petal, plus a savory note of Kalamata olive that lingers. Shiraz. Drink now through 2040. 300 cases made, 40 cases imported.??–MW??Region: Australia / Barossa / Eden Valley Select to Add