Henschke Shiraz Mt. Edelstone 2022 750ml

The 2022 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz is bright, supple, spicy, savory and sweet. It is complex and shapely, persistent and delicate, with notes of bay leaf, raspberry seed, tapenade, wet moss and brine. This is a beautiful wine, and one of the most lovely Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shirazes I have tasted on release. I love the wines from the 2022 vintage; it may forever live in the shadow of the great 2021 vintage that came before it, but not in my heart. It has a pH of 3.43, 5.8 grams per liter of total acidity and 14.5% alcohol. According to Henschke: "The winter of 2021 brought good rainfall, refilling soil profiles, and the cool, slow start to the growing season resulted in budburst occurring two weeks later than average. An extreme hail event on October 28 decimated the young-shoot growth across our vineyards in Keyneton, significantly reducing crop potential. Late flowering (late November to early December) avoided the cold and windy conditions, resulting in good fruit set, albeit with smaller yields. A burst of summer heat, without extremes, supported berry development and balanced canopy growth. Welcome rain in late January occurred just before veraison and ripening, leading into a mild and dry finish to summer. The 2022 vintage was late, with harvest dates one to two weeks later than the historical average. The resulting wines have great elegance with excellent aromatic and flavor intensity, bright acidity and wonderful aging potential.

This is the 70th release of this wine, made every year since 1952 from a single vineyard planted in 1912. The nose gives a savory, earth-driven feel with notes of crushed stones and red brick, layered with red and black cherries, plum, pomegranate, orange peel, dried flowers and spice. The palate is full of structure and concentration of fruit, cut through with silken yet firm tannins and bright acidity. Give it some time but delicious now.

The 2022 Shiraz Mount Edelstone, matured in only 8% new oak, presents pristine aromas of fruit pastille, licorice, raspberry and clove with undertones of savoury beef stock. This shows outstanding volume of flavour with spice tones, good acidity and mouth-coating tannins. A final influx of savoury earthy tones supports the strong, sustained finish, marking this as a great vintage.

Very deep crimson in colour. Definitive Mount Edelstone shiraz aromas of sage and crushed black pepper lead to brightly spiced plum, blue and black cherry characters, enveloped by crushed flowering herbs with cedar nuances. Vibrant, wild forest berries are layered beautifully into a rich and elegantly textured palate with fine velvety tannins and lingering notes of black pepper and sage for an extremely long finish.