2008 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace
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The 2008 Hill of Grace Shiraz is just looking so svelte and fine. The wine is elegant and spicy and super fine, and it leads with fresh leather and star anise, bay leaf, tobacco, curry leaf, cocoa and peppercorns that all twist and swirl through the bouquet. In the mouth, the tannins have evolved to a state of pure repose—seamless and fine, they flow and carry the Satsuma plum fruit along with it. This 2008 makes a very strong case for cellaring your wine for some time prior to drinking it. If you have the means, I would recommend buying some of this vintage (maybe solo, maybe with friends) and drinking a bottle. Experience the evolution of tannin and fruit. It's a wonder. It's a lovely wine, re-released into the wild. Lucky us. This has decades to go. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under Vinolok. 2008 experienced a heat wave in the fall (March 3-15), but thankfully most of the fruit for this wine was off by the time the heat became a problem.
Critic scores
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Full Vinolok-closed bottle just 1,232 g. 100% Shiraz from pre-phylloxera material brought from Europe in the mid 1800s and grown on the Henschke Hill of Grace vineyard managed with organic and biodynamic practices. Harvested 9–13 March. Matured in new (84% French, 16% American) oak hogsheads for 21 months prior to blending and bottling. Bottle-aged in the Henschke cellar for museum release. TA 6.1 g/l, pH 3.56. Deep shaded dark ruby. Wonderfully intense and complex nose. This wine just wraps itself around you! (And I haven't even tasted it yet.) Intense cocktail of prunes and something floral. Really rich. Luscious palate of gorgeously ripe fruit, just the right level of refreshing acidity with mineral top notes. Extremely rewarding with many layers. Very long indeed. (JR)
From a heatwave vintage comes this decadent but shapely 2008 Shiraz Hill of Grace. It immediately delivers blackberry, chocolate and new leather notes with tar and cassis touches. The palate follows suit, bold and dry, with flavors of licorice, dried spices and roasted meats before a long and muscular finish. The 2008 is an outlier, but the quality is undeniable.
This has always been a supremely seductive wine but is proving to have the backbone to last for decades in the cellar. The 2008 vintage was hot, coming towards the end of a long drought period, and produced extra-ripe wines; some were all show early on and have run out of steam – but not Hill of Grace. Crazy-youthful bold dark fruit, all squishy plums and pippy bramble, accompanied by a potpourri of spice and herbs, all interlaced with exceptional, fine, lingering tannin. (MA)