Henschke Hill of Grace

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Wine Description

Over 165 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. They were planted around the 1860s by an ancestor, Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just north-west of the winery

“The expressive and finely-tuned 2019 Shiraz Hill of Grace is generously proportioned but still holds its cards quite close to its chest at this early stage of life. There is distinctly ripe chocolate and cocoa to start before licorice, black olive and spice begin to rise. With excellent shape and composure, the seam of al-dente tannins provides both youthful drinkability and the backbone to assist with significant aging. A strong but not superlative vintage.” — Vinous, Aug 2024

“A superlative Hill of Grace, vinous and tautly composed. The sinew and torque are that of a distance runner over a sprinter, building with strength as the wine grows in the glass. While I would hold this for at least a decade, the sense is one of inchoate beauty. Riffs on dried sage, menthol, cloves, lilacs and blue fruit over anything dark or heavy. This takes me back to the way things were, perhaps, before the climate changed. Exceptional for the style. Benchmark for the site.” — James Suckling, May 2024

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Vineyard name

Hill of Grace Vineyard

Soil composition

Alluvial sandy loam over clay

Elevation:

1,312 feet

Year vineyard planted:

~1860

Harvest time:

March 17-26, 2015

First vintage of this wine:

1958

Average Vine Age:

100 year average - oldest vines 150+ years

Varietal composition:

100% Shiraz

Fermentation container:

Traditional open-top concrete fermentation tanks

Malolactic fermentation:

Full

Fining agent:

Vegan

Type of aging container:

Hogsheads

Type of oak:

French and American

Length of aging before bottling:

18 months

Total SO2

pH level:

3.61

Acidity:

5.6 g/L

Alcohol:

14.5 %

Total SO2

Residual sugar:

0.5 g/L

Cyril Henschke made the first single-vineyard shiraz wine from this vineyard in 1958 from handpicked grapes vinified in traditional open-top fermenters. Matured in 86% French and 14% American (33% new, 67% seasoned) hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling. The Henschke vineyards are nurtured under biodynamic principles.

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, meaning ‘Hill of Grace’.

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