2021 Henschke Hill of Grace, Eden Valley

May well be the prettiest Hill of Grace yet released. May also be the best, and that’s saying something. I thought 2021 was the greatest yet, then came 2022. Doesn’t have the raw power and luxurious opulence of the ’21, yet this might be a case of less is more.  The depth and intensity of fruit that comes from vines that were planted in the 1860s is undeniable, but it’s all harnessed and focused into an effortless, long, and most graceful structure. There’s a distinct combination of black olive and bay leaf with a lift of sage bush. The palate is immensely powerful and intense with a focused concentration of fruit. As it opens up, other sweet fruit characters emerge. There’s a little seaweed and subtle fish oil-like characters.  Perfumed and floral with blackberry and blueberry notes. It’s still relatively tight with fine-grained tannins. There is almost no new oak in the 100% seasoned French oak hogsheads, where it spent 20 months. Drink 2026 to 2071.

99+ points Ray Jordan for Wine Pilot, March 2026

This release will go down in the annals of Australian fine wine as one of the classic releases for Hill of Grace. With a strong vintage and even stronger pedigree, the gnarled old, circa 1860s-planted, shiraz vines have really come up with the goods with this release and as I sit to taste this wine with Stephen Henschke he shakes his head and says, "it just amazes me that my grandmother's grandfather planted these vines". The eagle-eyed will notice a skip in vintage. The yields were down horribly in 2020 across all the Henschke vineyards but man, did 2021 deliver. Super bright magenta/crimson in the glass with a wonderfully deep aromatic profile. Doris plum, blackberry and black cherry with hints of mace, sage, panforte, cedar, dark chocolate, tapenade, pepper, charcuterie, graphite, crushed quartz and violets. From the aromatic detail to the amplitude, purity and flow of fruit, the wine is absolutely on song with stunning length of flavour and presence on the palate, sailing away slowly with tight, fine-grained tannins and the most graceful of travels on the palate. An absolute classic for this wine. Drink 2024 to 2054.

99 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, March 2025

Good depth of lightly purple-rimmed colour; the bouquet is a riot of dried herb scents from thyme to sage and oregano with smoky black pepper, vegetable stock, red and darker fruits including raspberry, dark plum and blackberry. The wine is full-bodied and flows evenly across the tongue, with an effortless intensity and suppleness of texture. Fine tannins are an important part of the very long, high-impact aftertaste. A superb wine of intricate detail and elegance. Drink 2027 to 2051.

99 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, February 2025

The 2021 Hill of Grace Shiraz comes from a vineyard that sits at 400 meters above sea level—a beautiful, remote-feeling place. The vineyard is picked block by block, defined by vine age, soil types, elevation and position within the vineyard. The older vines within the vineyard tend to hold their acidity and retain lower pH with higher natural acidity than the younger vines, which also assists in determining the parcels. "Ironically, this is the simplest wine to make; it's the vineyard that produces the wine like this. It's due to the work in the vineyard over many generations," says Stephen Henschke. So, to the wine. It is pure and fine, with a languid pool of fruit that is characterized by black silty tannins and persistent, seamless length. This speaks of the ancient place, the rocks, the vines. This is just a magnificent, graceful wine here, one that is "immune to hyperbole," as they say. Drink 2025 to 2051.

98 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, March 2025

This outstanding 2021 Shiraz Hill of Grace is a confident young wine built for the long haul in a punchy package that is still tightly wound. It is starting to reveal some of its charms with rocky, licorice, blackberry, and dried herb aromas. The palate is quite extraordinary, particularly the quality of tannins, pithy texture and strident composure, which drive a finish of extreme length and are all accented by deep minerality. The 2021 is a star in the making and easily the best vintage since 2018. Drink 2025 to 2048.

98 points Angus Hughson for Vinous, April 2025

At the outset, I’ll confess that I have not scored this vintage of Hill of Grace quite as highly as I have many of the recent releases (in fairness, we are talking wafer-thin margins at the very highest levels). That is not because I think it is any less of a wine, quite the contrary, but because at the moment I think it is so tight, coiled and reticent that it simply will not give of itself what it can and what it will. In ten or twenty or even thirty years, I have not the least doubt that it will sit comfortably with any recent release, even the glorious 2021 vintage. The wine is, of course, from that famous patch of ancient vines in the Hill of Grace vineyard in the Eden Valley which was planted around 1860. Maturation is in older French oak hogsheads for twenty months. It is, as ever, an astonishing achievement. A purple/maroon hue with a hint of the haze of the Blue Mountains. The nose offers notes of black fruits, chocolate, florals, smoked meats, cloves, licorice, black olives, mocha and coffee beans. A wine that is generous, still obviously very youthful, and with serious concentration. On the palate, we see the emergence of notes of blueberries and the herb garden nature of the wine. There is immaculate balance and extraordinary length through to firm, very fine tannins on a lingering finish. The wine is perhaps marginally more savoury than it appears in some years. There is good energy here and underlying power which suggests that leaving the wine alone for the next five to eight years would be in everyone’s interests, before drinking it over the following thirty to fifty, if you think you’ll be around that long. Drink 2026 to 2076.

98 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, March 2026

The 2021 Hill of Grace is widely considered a landmark vintage — described by the family as possibly the finest since 2002 and assessed by multiple critics as one of the greatest releases in the wine's history. This vintage also marks the move to screwcap across the entire Henschke single vineyard range — a quiet but significant step for a wine of this stature and longevity.

Fragrant, layered and utterly compelling — dark plum, blackberry and violet on the nose, deepening into sage, cedar, five spice and the ancient mineral quality that is the Hill of Grace signature. The palate is simultaneously powerful and weightless, with impossibly fine tannins, seamless balance and a finish that goes on long after the glass is empty.

A wine to venerate rather than merely drink. Drink from 2031 and well beyond.