2012 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz Eden Valley

The story of Henschke winery starts with the journey of Johann Christian Henschke, when he dramatically escaped from Germany to Australia back in 1803. In 1847, Johann established in Barossa Valley, where he purchased some land in Krondorf village and built the house that would become the winery (which stands to this day.) It was in 1862, that he planted the first vineyard and 6 years later, he released the first vintage of Shiraz and Riesling.

Today, this Australian flagship winery is still in the hand of the Henschke family. After more than 200 years of learning and perfecting the business, the estate fell into the hands of the sixth generation, Johann, and his wife Angela. Johann is an Australian celebrated winemaker who studied at the University of Adelaide. He forged his way in the world of wine by working in renowned wineries worldwide like Leeuwin Estate in Australia, Felton Road in New Zealand, Isole e Olena in Italy, and Arietta in Napa Valley. Johann’s wife is not strange to wine either, she comes from the Torremilanos family in Ribera del Duero in Spain. Both make a great team with Johann leading the winemaking and viticulture area and Angela taking the lead in the marketing side of the company.

The family has 4 different vineyards located in Eden Valley, Barossa Valley, and Adelaide Hills. All the vineyards are managed with sustainable, organic, and biodynamic viticulture. They confirm that “Since we started using organic and biodynamic practices, we’re seeing the benefits in greater expression of aromas and textures in the wines from all our vineyards.”

All these vineyards produce top-tier wines that are among wine critics' favorites. However, the jewel on the crown of Henschke is “Hill of Grace” a vineyard that produces the epic wine that’s named after it.

Hill of Grace is an 8-acre single-vineyard shiraz planting, with vines that are over 160 years old, becoming among the oldest in the world. The vines are planted in a perfect terroir of alluvial, sandy loam over clay soils. The result is magical, a wine that has truly become an icon and reference of the TOP Australian wines in the world.

Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz is a legendary wine, and every year, this wine gets very solid and powerful praise from major wine critics, 2012 was no exception. This vintage was awarded a perfect 100 score by Falstaff who described it as "an exceptional wine." Wine Advocate, who blessed it with a near-perfect 99pt review and said that "This is a truly great Hill of Grace" and James Halliday, who, besides granting it a 99pt score, called it a "flawless Hill of Grace."

This wine is extremely rare and highly allocated. 

Aging: 18 months in 83% French, 17% American oak barrels.