Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2006

The beautiful and historic name Mount Edelstone is a translation from the German Edelstein meaning ‘gemstone’, a reference to small yellow opals once found in the area. The Mount Edelstone Vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who founded The South Australian Company and played a significant part in the formation and establishment of South Australia. Unusual for its time, the vineyard was planted solely to shiraz. The ancient 500-million-year-old geology in the vineyard has given rise to soils that are deep red-brown clay-loam to clay, resulting in low yields from the dry-grown, ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 by fourth-generation Cyril Henschke. By the time Cyril purchased the vineyard from Colin Angas in 1974, Mount Edelstone was already well entrenched as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines. Crafted by the Henschke family for 65 years now, Mount Edelstone is arguably the longest consecutively-produced, single-vineyard wine in Australia.

"A joyful, traditional Eden Valley shiraz with a touch of modern polish. Its smoky aromas of dark plums, blackberries, violets, white pepper, cloves and cinnamon overlie meaty, briary nuances while its palate is smooth, supple and fine-grained perfection. It's oak is so well integrated almost to be unobtrusive beneath its deliciously bright, focused and juicy flavours of sweet mulberries, blackberries and cassis, which are tightly honed above a fine, dusty backbone. Drink 2018-2026+. Jeremy Oliver, jeremyoliver.com - 97 Points"

"Deep purple-crimson; the bouquet is intense and full of spicy black fruits accurately foretelling the power and purity of the palate; this is an outstanding Mount Edelstone, indeed, I cannot remember any better than this; it has the focus and structure to guarantee a 30-year future, if this is what you are after. Alas, it will long outlive me. How good will the '06 Hill of Grace be? Shiraz." 96 Points James Halliday"