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Rated 96/100 by Wine Enthusiast (top 12% of their reviews).
Researched by our team from producer and independent sources — not supplied by the seller.
Mount Edelstone is a single-vineyard Shiraz from a site planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, unusually for its time planted solely to shiraz. The vineyard sits at 400 metres in the Eden Valley, 4km west of the Henschke winery at Keyneton in the Mount Lofty Ranges east of the Barossa Valley, on deep sandy loam over gravelly medium-red clay overlying laminated siltstone, above schists of Cambrian age.
The vines are on their own roots and dry grown, sourced from pre-phylloxera material from Joseph Gilbert's nursery, believed to originate from James Busby's selection, and yields are low, averaging 3 tonnes per hectare. The 2022 was matured in 8% new and 92% seasoned French oak hogsheads for 20 months before blending and bottling, the proportions varying by vintage.
Reviews of recent releases describe deep-set blackberry, dark plum and mulberry fruit alongside savoury bay leaf, sage and peppercorn notes.
Henschke was established in 1868 and is now in its sixth generation of family grapegrowing and winemaking, from Johann Christian Henschke, who emigrated from Silesia in 1841 and settled at what is now Keyneton. The fourth-generation Cyril Alfred Henschke is
recognised as a pioneer of single-varietal and single-vineyard wines in Australia, and it was Cyril who first bottled Mount Edelstone as a single-vineyard wine, with the 1952 vintage.
Stephen and Prue Henschke took over the running of the winery in 1979 after Cyril's death.
Charcoal-grilled beef with a peppery dry rub
The wine's own peppercorn and sage register amplifies a pepper-crusted crust, while smoke from charcoal meets the dark bramble fruit and the tannins handle the fat.
Massaman curry with slow-cooked beef (แกงมัสมั่นเนื้อ)
Massaman is the mildest and sweetest-spiced of the Thai curries; its cinnamon, cardamom and star anise meet the savoury bay leaf and sage notes in the wine, and the coconut richness softens the shiraz structure.
Roast duck with plum sauce
Duck fat carries shiraz tannin well, and a plum-based sauce is a direct echo of the dark plum and blood plum fruit the wine shows.
Product information compiled from producer, importer and reference sources.
Own-rooted 1912 vines on Eden Valley's 400 m plateau — Cyril Henschke's 1952 transgression that invented Australian single-vineyard wine, now a 97+ pt 2019 of extreme purity.
In 1952, when Australian fine wine meant blends and fortifieds, Cyril Henschke bottled a single vineyard under its own name — Mount Edelstone — an act of deliberate transgression that effectively invented a category. The vines he drew from, planted in 1912
from James Busby stock, are own-rooted and pre-phylloxera, still growing on their original rootstock at 400 m elevation on an easterly-facing slope in the Eden Valley GI.
That elevation and aspect are the technical argument for everything that follows: cooler nights than floor Barossa preserve natural acidity and produce the five-spice and dark-fruit precision that defines Eden Valley Shiraz. The 16-ha vineyard is farmed organically and biodynamically under viticulturist Prue Henschke, dry-grown, trained on Scott Henry trellis to manage canopy in the cool-climate site.
In the winery, hand-harvested fruit is fermented in open-top vessels with submerged-cap technique, undergoes full malolactic fermentation, and is aged in French and American oak hogsheads (similar regime to Hill of Grace: predominantly French, mix of new and seasoned) with no added tannins — natural grape acidity from old vines does the structural work. Separate block parcels are blended prior to bottling.
2019 saw yields of just 10–15% of normal crop following frosts, hail, and a record 44.3°C heat event, producing a wine of concentrated purity and precision — awarded 97+ points by Vintage Journal. Drinking window: 2025–2038+.
Sommelier’s pick: Slow-braised Wagyu beef short rib with black garlic jus · Roasted rack of lamb with native thyme and anchovy butter · Duck confit with Sichuan peppercorn and plum reduction
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