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2017 Keyneton Euphonium Barossa Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon
£198 per 6 bot, in bond (£253.67 inc. duty & VAT)
62% Shiraz, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot
A beautiful composition of Shiraz from up to 50-year-old vines growing in the Eden and Barossa valleys, blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from selected vineyards in both regions, some of which were planted by Cyril Henschke at his Eden Valley property in the 1960s.
The Barossa hills village of Keyneton was a musical and cultural focus for early settlers, and home of the Henschke Family Brass Band, founded in 1888.
Matured in 19% new and 81% seasoned French (85%) and American (15%) oak hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling.
I am particularly partial to Keyneton Euphonium, and it is a genuinely noble creation in 2017. The 2017 is a tighter, more structured style than the expansive 2016, and yet I like it enormously for very different reasons. There is no need for this blend to load muscle and weight on the palate, even though many wines do just this. Imagine, if you will, a KE sporting a perfectly tailored three-piece suit, broad across the shoulders and nipped in at the waist – this is the silhouette of 2017 Euphonium. Elegant, controlled and suave, this is a perfumed wine with a gorgeous, smoky, red-fruited feel. The acidity is mouth-watering, making this intense red wine feel refreshing and savoury. I am extremely impressed and if you consider the diminutive price tag, this is a work of genius. While I appreciate that it could not be more different in delivery than the mighty 2016, I find its balance and elegance exceptionally alluring. You could indeed open a bottle today and enjoy the flavours from the off, but there is a rigidity and poise here buried in its core that will enable this wine to mellow for a good ten to fifteen years. (Drink now – 2035).
18 points Matthew Jukes
62/24/11/3 shiraz/cabernet sauvignon/cabernet franc/merlot. Matured 18 months in (19% new) seasoned 85/15% French/American oak hogsheads. I love the transparency of the Barossa's cooler seasons, in such articulate detail here that all 4 varieties are clearly visible in all their glory. Unashamedly medium bodied, refreshing and enticing, yet in no way underpowered, simplistic or short lived. Crunchy berry fruits, fine-ground tannins and vibrant acidity unite to marvellous effect and outstanding line and length. It takes some skill, dexterity and humility in the winery to allow fruit of such elegance to really sing. A classic Barossa blend with a long future before it.
95 points Tyson Stelzer, Halliday Wine Companion
Very good deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is sweetly raspberry-ish and very Eden Valley in style, earthy-spicy also, with a bouquet of dried herbs and dried flowers, especially sage. The wine is deliciously fruit-sweet and almost lush in the mouth, the masses of fine, subtly drying tannins keeping the finish and aftertaste neat and disciplined. A lovely wine, approachable already but certainly built to last and will be better if you can keep your hands off it a few years.
95 points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
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2017 Mount Edelstone Eden Valley Shiraz
£675 per 6 bot, in bond (£826.07 inc. duty & VAT)
A complex, textured wine from an historic, low-yielding 16-hectare site. The Mount Edelstone vineyard is home to dry-grown, ungrafted centenarian vines which sit on ancient soils at 400 metres above sea level.
Each parcel of vines is picked and vinified separately. Matured in 26% new and 74% seasoned (86% French, 14% American) oak hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling.
Mount Edelstone’s historic vines were planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who founded South Australia.
Planted in 1912 and with an easterly aspect and lower altitude (400m) than The Wheelright, Prue Henschke describes this soil type in this historic vineyard as ‘a dream’. Sandy loam over gravelly red clay and, below, layers of micaceous schist equal the perfect Henschke soil sandwich! Prue recognises that these strata give her wines more vigour and more power, and I can echo these thoughts because this is one of the most expressive young Henschke wines I have seen. There is no doubt that the flavours and perfumes in the glass directly reflect this precise site; this is all you can ask of a great wine. The purity of the blackberry theme is sensational and while the French oak does what French oak always tries to do – add gravitas and detail – it is the 14% American oak from the Appalachian Mountains that adds style, richness, and a touch of glamour to proceedings. After all of the action, the finish is respectfully prim, and tart and I love it when wines finish correctly on the palate with a ‘proper full stop’. I am aware that I get rather over-excited about Mount Edelstone, and so I paid particular attention to how this wine opened up over the course of four days, and it simply unfurled an immense array of charm and intricacy that, on first tasting, was discreetly hidden behind panels of flavour. This is a thrillingly controlled wine with invigorating flavours, and it will make three decades in a good cellar. (Drink 2025 – 2050)
19+ points Matthew Jukes
Kaleidoscopic, this glorious vintage is terroir translucent, transporting you to the vineyard with its signature aromas of dried sage, Eucalyptus olida (aka Strawberry Gum), wild mint, wattleseed, nutmeg and tinder. Soaring and super-expressive, these scents bring compelling dimension and meld exquisitely on the sweet, juicy plum and bramble palate, with its cocoa nib and earthy hints. Graceful, willowy tannins and mineral acidity make for a long, fluid, markedly perfumed finish. Irresistible already! Drinking Window 2022 – 2042
98 points Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
Form a single vineyard of 105yo shiraz vines on Mount Edelstone in the Eden Valley, farmed according to organic and biodynamic practices. Aged in 86/14% French and American oak (26% new) for 18 months. I was lucky enough to live next door to the Mount Edelstone vineyard for 8 years and have consumed a fair amount of Cooper's Green on the bench at the summit; I have seen the amount of fastidious work Henschke put into the vineyard. It's a special place. Bright, intense blackberry and blackcurrant fruits mesh with hints of Asian spice, tar, turned earth, rosehip, sage and high-cocoa dark chocolate. Displaying a beautiful, pure, dark fruit flow, it's a wonderfully complex wine with ripe long-grain tannins and sprightly mineral acid drive, finishing very long and graceful with a core of cassis and spice. Will cellar magnificently.
97 points Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
Deep, dark-red to brick-red colour, with an intense bouquet featuring strong notes of 'eucalypt forest floor'. The wine is soft and sinewy in mouth-feel, just full-bodied and quite elegant but for the kick of alcohol at the finish. The dried-herb aromas are complex and there's a dominant note of sage. The finish has a touch of bitterness that demands just a little more time will resolve. It's concentrated and super-powerful and the structure is impressive. Long-term.
96 points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
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2017 Hill of Grace Eden Valley Shiraz
£1425 per 3 bot, in bond (£1718.04 inc. duty & VAT)
This legendary site by the Gnadenberg Lutheran Church, with its ‘congregation’ of ancient vines, lies in the village of Parrot Hill, just a few kilometres northwest of Henschke Cellars. The soil — red-brown earth over a deep silty loam — offers excellent moisture retention for the old dry-grown vines.
Matured in 29% new and 71% seasoned (83% French, 17% American) oak hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling.
Planted in 1912 and with an easterly aspect and lower altitude (400m) than The Wheelright, Prue Henschke describes this soil type in this historic vineyard as ‘a dream’. Sandy loam over gravelly red clay and, below, layers of micaceous schist equal the perfect Henschke soil sandwich! Prue recognises that these strata give her wines more vigour and more power, and I can echo these thoughts because this is one of the most expressive young Henschke wines I have seen. There is no doubt that the flavours and perfumes in the glass directly reflect this precise site; this is all you can ask of a great wine. The purity of the blackberry theme is sensational and while the French oak does what French oak always tries to do – add gravitas and detail – it is the 14% American oak from the Appalachian Mountains that adds style, richness, and a touch of glamour to proceedings. After all of the action, the finish is respectfully prim, and tart and I love it when wines finish correctly on the palate with a ‘proper full stop’. I am aware that I get rather over-excited about Mount Edelstone, and so I paid particular attention to how this wine opened up over the course of four days, and it simply unfurled an immense array of charm and intricacy that, on first tasting, was discreetly hidden behind panels of flavour. This is a thrillingly controlled wine with invigorating flavours, and it will make three decades in a good cellar. (Drink 2025 – 2050)
19+ points Matthew Jukes
Australia's finest single-vineyard site? I think so. With its core of gnarled shiraz vines planted circa 1860 and its picture-perfect location alongside the Gnadenberg church, it is a much adored and discussed vineyard which has been producing stellar wines since the first single-vineyard Hill of Grace was released in 1958. Today, those original vines are bolstered with its 'young' 100+ and 35+yo kinfolk and aged in 83/17% French/American oak hogsheads (29% new) for 18 months. Grace by name, grace by nature; it's a perfectly framed, elegant snapshot of pristine fruit, site and season. Precisely ripened berry fruits are underscored with notes of Chinese five-spice, sage, jasmine, licorice, mocha, blackberry pastille, charcuterie, wild flowers and cherry clafoutis. Pitch-perfect and elegant on the palate, the tannin-acid architecture tuned and sympatico with the pristine ancestor-vine fruit and a very long, silken finish that resonates with style and place. My goodness it's lovely.
99 points Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion\
Muscular with great vitality and sensuality, Hill of Grace 2017 combines gravitas with grace. Supple swathes of fruit – blackberry with blueberry and red cherry – come scented with china ink, tinder bush, black pepper, star anise, wattleseed, tea leaf and baking spices. Tobacco pouch, mulch and subtle game undertones strike a savoury note. Rafts of seamless, spicy tannins build and buoy layers of flavour. Terrific authority, strength, complexity and length. Drinking Window 2023 – 2047
99 points Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
Deep ruby to brick-red colour with a tinge of purple lingering in the meniscus. The bouquet is very expressive and multi-layered with raspberry and cassis, regional dried herbs—especially sage and oregano, while the palate is tremendously intense and profoundly flavoured with multi-faceted flavours and the kind of effortless concentration and seamless texture that only the greatest shirazes achieve. There is something mysterious and hard to identify about this wine which is seriously delicious. A great Australian shiraz.
98 points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
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2016 is the 56th release of ‘Hill of Grace’, first produced in 1958 from vines already almost 100 years old.
The revered Shiraz vines sit beside the beautiful Gnadenberg Lutheran Church (‘Gnadenberg’ means ‘Hill of Grace’ in German). The site’s original Ancestors (vines over 125 years old) are now approximately 160 years old and remain the heart of ‘Hill of Grace’, credited by Stephen for giving the wine its exotic spice component. A small section of ungrafted Centenarians (vines over 100 years old) and Old Vines (over 35 years old) complete one of Australia’s most-celebrated wines.
With just four hectares of Shiraz planted on this ancient, low-yielding vineyard, every vintage is a limited release. There was no ‘Hill of Grace’ made in 1960, 1974 and 2000. Just one barrel was produced in 2003; no vintage in 2011 and extremely tiny vintages for 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2020.
2017 Vintage Report
In The Eden Valley, a wet 2016 winter provided a good foundation for Henschke’s dry-farmed old vines. A cool, wet, and windy spring followed, with a slightly higher rainfall than in the Barossa Valley, which delayed flowering. Conditions during fruit-set meant that yields were at average levels. The summer months were mild with frequent rainfall. This allowed the grapes to reach full physiological maturity. A mild period of ripening finished with the harvest starting in mid to late April, a month later than the 2016 vintage. The last grapes were picked in mid-May. As always, careful hand picking in the vineyard and sorting of grapes as they came into the winery ensured quality was not compromised. This cool but exceptional vintage has produced wines with precision and character, reflecting the purest expression of both variety and vineyard.
The 2017 vintage was not copious in quantity but was more generous than the ‘tiny’ 2019 and 2020 vintages to come.
According to Stephen Henschke, the 2017 wines are akin to high quality vintages such as 1992, 2006 and 2012, all of which were late, cool seasons and have shown excellent ageing potential.
To celebrate Henschke’s single vineyard release, Stephen Henschke shares the distinctive characters of the 2017 vintage in this short video: ‘A Vintage Graced by Vitality’.
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