Mount Edelstone Shiraz, Henschke 2021

The 2021 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz was planted in 1912 and was 16 hectares from own-rooted, pre-phylloxera James Busby vine stock. The first Mount Edelstone wine was produced in 1952, from 40-year-old vines. The success of the Mount Edelstone was the inspiration for the Hill of Grace single-vineyard wine to be produced from the 1958 vintage. The Mount Edelstone vineyard is planted at 400 metres in elevation and has an easterly aspect trellised to the Scott Henry system, capturing the morning sun and avoiding the hot afternoon sun. The wine is velvety and layered with raw cocoa tannins, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, raspberry and blood plum. This has all the concentration and intensity that we know and love of Mount Edelstone; it speaks clearly to Eden Valley as a place, with notes of sage, bay, crushed rocks and a cool minerality that drives it through the long finish. This is a superb wine.

Deep colour with a good tint of purple in the rim; there are raspberry and mulberry aromas coupled with sage and dried thyme herbal notes, the palate full bodied and firm with ample tannins and a note of oak char. The tannins are ample and well-married to the flavour and structure of the wine. Good length and balanced throughout. A superb shiraz, more peppery with airing: a stellar vintage for this wine.

This vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, and unusually for the time it was 100% Shiraz. This wine was first made in 1952. Ungrafted vines planted on friable, gravelly red brown earth soils. This has vibrant aromatics of ripe cherries and plums with a hint of acid lift and subtle pepper and tar notes. In the mouth there’s nice concentration with a sweet core of berry fruits, pronounced spicy acidity and some peppery detail, as well as dried herbs (sage, rosemary) and tar, with some raspberry brightness on the finish, and even a slight minty twist. Classically Eden valley with a sort of sweet and sour riff taking place. I really like the sweet core of the fruit, and the elegance combined with some depth. This has the capacity for further development.

Mid-depth hue and still quite crimson. Really savoury, nuanced, rewarding nose. So dense and concentrated as it hits the palate! Yet it's cool and refreshing on the finish. It already seems quite expressive, and richer than The Wheelwright. This is a real charmer. The density of fruit obscures the tannin which is just hinted at on the very end with discernible evidence of a framework. This just goes on and on … Surely those with a prejudice against Australian Shiraz could be wooed by this? Some may be shocked by the start of my suggested drinking window [2025] but I stand by it.

Even though the vines are over 100 years old, Prue reports they are still vigorous and profound. East-facing and lapping up the morning sun, Mount Edelstone is fabulously expressive and uncommonly aromatic in 2021, and I swear the colour is a couple of pantones darker than usual, too. You are presented with an ostentatious bunch of flowers on the nose, and it takes a few heartbeats for a deep red wine experience to occur. While you find your bearings, the thrum of a throaty engine kicks in, and while the tannins seem imperceptible to the taste, you can see them pulsating on the finish. This is an action-packed silent movie of a wine and while the volume of flavour is tremendous, there is a keen chalkiness and degree of athletic refinement that tethers the whole experience to the ground. Calm, deliberate, detailed and celestial, Prue knows when to pick this wine, and I feel she has nailed each bunch with Swiss precision in 2021 because every sip has effortless grace despite the scale and directness of the flavour. This wine has a thrilling future ahead of it, and it is another horizon-expanding example of what this incredible vineyard is capable of.