19.5+ points
Matthew Jukes, March 2024, MatthewJukes.com
Hill of Grace was the first to be picked of the single vineyard wines. While this is a warmer site in the Henschke portfolio, it was still picked a couple of weeks later than most of the Barossa Valley. This was another tiny yield, yet the fruit retained the benchmark HoG exoticism with deep, dark fruitcake and chocolate notes. A lot is going on here, with confusing complexity interwoven between waves of opulent fruit and near-silent elegance. Prue explained that she has worked extremely hard to build up the organic matter in the vineyard, which allows the vines to cope with warmer vintages as the soils retain a much cooler atmosphere. For example, on a 34C day, under vine temperature was over 50C on bare soil but 27C under the mulch that the Henschkes employ. These myriad details all conspire to enable Hill of Grace to flourish in a challenging vintage like 2019, which is why this wine is so complete. Don’t expect it to drink any time soon. There is so much the needs rearranging and cataloguing in the core of this wine, but when it falls into line, I do not doubt that this will be a remarkable and thrillingly unique wine.
19.5 points
Jancis Robinson MW, March 2024, JancisRobinson.com
Richly shaded, lustrous garnet. Rich, camphor nose with many layers. Real sweetness, with saltiness, on palate entry and waves of subsequent impact on the palate that has one of the longest finishes one might encounter. This remarkably small crop, thanks to hail and extreme heat in summer, shows no sign of dried fruit. There is quite enough juice and interest right through the tasting experience. Amazingly, you could enjoy drinking this now, even though the Henschkes suggest a life of 30 years from 2019. If I had a sore throat and a fairy godmother, this is what she would administer.
97 points
Erin Larkin, April 2024, WineAdvocate.com
The 2019 Hill of Grace Shiraz was picked earlier than the Mount Edelstone fruit, and it was picked on a single day, on March 8. This vineyard has more silt, and it brings out anise and five spice aromas in the wine. It ripens earlier than Mount Edelstone, is darker and more concentrated than the former and brings out the concentration of black fruit and fine tannins that the Eden Valley is so capable of. On the palate, the wine is super fragrant, elegant and fine, with bone broth and rose petals, peppercorns, crushed herbs, black cherry, raspberry pip, black tea and graphite. This is an eloquent wine, and it speaks of the evocatively beautiful place that is the Eden Valley. The tannins hold the fruit in a gentle way in the mouth. It is fine, such a fine expression—I must say, it's not at all what I expected of the 2019 vintage. It's a triumph of a wine. Super.
