Henschke Release 2015 Premiums
And they’re every bit as good as you’ve heard.
2015 Keyneton Euphonium
Shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc. Barossa Valley
A regional Barossa blend of old vine material. An unexpectedly fine and elegant expression of these usually big boy varieties, this is all silk and plush. The tannins are very fine, almost subliminal but create a fine backbone that the fruit rests on. Great length of flavour and a crushed rock finesse through the finish. Lovely stuff and feels like it would live for an age.
RRP $60
94/100
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2015 Cyril Henschke
Cabernet sauvignon (1% cabernet franc). Eden Valley
Elegant, fine, layered and pure. This has the crunch of acidity, laced with saline minerality and bright fruit but it is also silky in a way that never seems to descend to creamy. This displays succulence and structure at the same time and teases out cabernet flavours that were hitherto unexpected: red currant alongside salted pomegranate, raspberry and red liquorice, with the more typical cassis, bay leaf, black pepper, anise and something like balsamic strawberries… Completely fine and elegant, this is a standout wine and one that stands up alongside some of the finest in the country.
RRP $165
96/100
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2015 Mount Edelstone
Shiraz. Eden Valley
Single Vineyard Shiraz. Planted in 1912. Bottled as a single vineyard wine from the 1952 vintage onwards. This is salted black liquorice (the Dutch cat kind) grilled raspberry, blueberry, and mulberry. The palate is deep and saturating and for all of its opulence and stature, maintains restraint and finesse. The tannins make only a gentle impact on the palate, while they are omnipresent they are not overbearing and serve to bolster and support the fruit and spice. The length is incredibly long, leaving a lingering, beckoning impression on the palate. There is a saltiness and a moorishness here that is impossible to leave alone… the wine begs to be consumed, quietly cheering you on to do so from the glass. Delicious, exciting, classy and speaks clearly of it Eden Valley roots. Makes me want to drink a lot, lot more of this.
RRP $225
98/100
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2015 Hill of Grace
Shiraz. Eden Valley
From a single vineyard in the Eden Valley, wherein the original ancestor vines are over 160 years old. The nose is curious and laden with interwoven spices and flavours like freshly ground coffee, nutmeg, dried star anise, black pepper, whispers of cinammon sticks, lashings of cassis, raspberry, grilled blueberry, crushed slate (moving to a cap gun minerality space) and so much more. A myriad of different colours, flavours and spices here… they morph and change with the more swirling and sniffing that I do. On the palate the wine deep dives into the depths of ripe berry fruit, charcuterie, salted red tomatoes and saturating, quenching raspberry concentrate. This moves into pomegranate and mariposa plum, glides over salted and grilled Adriatic figs and settles on something elegant, salty, fine and exciting. This has finesse and power, energy and restraint, all couched in a most intense capsule of flavour and concentration. The acidity laces all these characters together, weaving in and out of the fruit, suturing the spice, oak and texture as one. A remarkable wine for now and for decades hence, although 15 or 20 would hit the sweet spot. I cannot get over how it marries lightweight body with power and concentration. It’s unbelievably impressive.
Released May 6 2020.
RRP $865
99/100