POLL: Would you pay $1,000 for the 2021 Hill of Grace?

[Sean]

The Henschke 2021 icon reds will be released on 7 May.

Including the 2021 Hill of Grace, which will retail for $1,000.

They are releasing it a year early. Apparently there is stuff all of the 2020 vintage and it will be a museum release down the track.

You can watch a video of Huon Hooke talking to Stephen & Prue Henschke about the new release reds here if you are interested -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONtxfEnzbcI

(The link will work if you copy and paste all of it to your browser bar.)

Anyway thinking most of you will probably call it ridiculous paying $1,000 for a new Grange or $850 for a Torbreck Laird.

How about $1,000 for Hill of Grace?

And if yes, why?

[Andrew Jordan]

Quoting Darryl Kerrigan ... "tell him he's dreaming".

[phillisc]

$27 for the 1990 HOG
$12 for the 1990 Mt Ed.

That's where we'll leave it
Cheers Craig

[Ian S]

For me, yes I suspect it's utterly ridiculous, but I've not tasted it, so although every indicator points to it being ridiculous, who knows...

In 1990 I tasted Penfolds Grange. It cost £25 a bottle at the time and I was shocked that I felt the price justifiable, and if I would have had storage options at the tine, may have bought a bottle or two.

Factoring inflation in, the current price would be £60.70

HoG has mirrored Grange in pricing over the years, neither being prepared to cede their aspiration to be Australia's most prestigious wine.

My view of 'value' will have changed over the years, partly through general wine price super-inflation for 'prestigious' wines, but also a better understanding of my own palate (I see less value / interest in South Australian Shiraz beloved by Aussie wine critics). Overall I'd say if I ignored the arbitrage potential, Grange at £60.70 would probably still hold a similar 'value' to me. Nice to have 3-4 bottles in the cellar, but no more than that.

Against this thinking, it's hard to imagine £500 for HoG to hold any value for me.

[SipAndANibble]

Far too much especially at my stage in my wine journey. I’d be inquisitive to try a glass of it but couldn’t bring myself to pay that much for a bottle !

[Waiters Friend]

Grange and HoG around $1K - far more interesting wines from Europe to spend my $$ on.

[felixp21]

shared in a bottle of the 2017 Grange the other night, a birthday wine. (yes, too young, but whatever)
also had, side-by-side, a glass of the 2018 Ogier La Rosine syrah.
All four of us preferred the latter, and you can buy about 20 bottles of it for a single bottle of Grange.

It's no different to many many wines around the globe, good luck to them as they can sell it every year.
Harlan, Screaming Eagle, Arnoux-Lachaux, Raveneau, etc etc ....... ridiculous, but people still buy them.
then you have Liber Pater, incredibly, people even buy that.

IMO if Grange was priced at $2000 a bottle, it would still sell every year, despite the waning Chinese market. So, by my logic, $1000 is a bargain.
I also reckon Penfolds know that.
I guarantee you if Screagle was ten times the current release price, it would sell out every year. DRC RC has no problem, and I mean no problem, selling at $30k a bottle.

I purchased a case of 1978 Grange in-store, not auction, in 1986 for $16 a bottle. In a pub in Echuca, a real bargain. With inflation, that is now the equivalent princely sum of $46 a bottle. Ahhh, the good old days.

PS of course, I'd never even contemplate buying either at $1000 a bottle, way too many far better wines out there at a third the price.

[JamieAdelaide]

Conventional inflation is not a fair measure for the appreciation of luxury items. It’s as simple as that!

We can all find better wines as wine lovers and often tell a great story to go with them. In the case of Grange and Hill of Grace, arguably the greatest wine of Italy, which until the 2004 vintage, I could buy 3 bottles of per the Aussie icon bottle price.

In Australia too, we also have parochial devotees eg: the birthday Grange for the kids which despite the $1000 price tag, isn’t out of reach for many for such an occasion.

[Wine2day]

No.....

[Matt@5453]

Conventional inflation is not a fair measure for the appreciation of luxury items. It’s as simple as that!

We can all find better wines as wine lovers and often tell a great story to go with them. In the case of Grange and Hill of Grace, arguably the greatest wine of Italy, which until the 2004 vintage, I could buy 3 bottles of per the Aussie icon bottle price.

In Australia too, we also have parochial devotees eg: the birthday Grange for the kids which despite the $1000 price tag, isn’t out of reach for many for such an occasion.

I agree with Jamie. It isn't out of reach. Plenty of people will buy it for different reasons.

The 2021 vintage would be an investment in quality and quality drinking in the future, probably not as a financial investment given the secondary market pricing.

If any one has not seen it yet, Barossa Australia have their own classification system: "Barossa Super 100 Classification, shining a global spotlight on the region’s finest ultra-premium wines"

The top tier is listed here for interest:

$800+
Chris Ringland Dry Grown Barossa Ranges Shiraz
Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz
Hentley Farm Cotes De Hentley Shiraz
Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon
Peter Lehmann Wines Masterson Shiraz
Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny
Torbreck The Forebear Shiraz
Torbreck The Laird Shiraz

[phillisc]

Had a look at that yesterday Matt...absolutely laughable list.
Should be renamed fools and their money list.
Is there anything that is any good under $125!!

cheers Craig

[JamieAdelaide]

Whether you like it or not, $1000 isn’t a lot of money for people. I’ve been watching this for years with my well to do, Burgundy loving friends.

Why discourage this? The ATO gets $400 a bottle. Then gives it to the government to subsidise our energy bills- even though we the most energy rich country the planet.

Drink more Grange for Albo!

[mjs]

The top tier is listed here for interest:

$800+
Chris Ringland Dry Grown Barossa Ranges Shiraz
Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz
Hentley Farm Cotes De Hentley Shiraz
Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon
Peter Lehmann Wines Masterson Shiraz
Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny
Torbreck The Forebear Shiraz
Torbreck The Laird Shiraz

The Block42 is the only one I (have and) would buy. Superb cabernet, none of that Shiraz muck

[mind you, I've never paid anything like $800/b for maybe 6-8 bottles from 1996 and 2004, ok there was a magnum of '96 for my 60th that was $800 ]

[mjs]

It's not Grange or HoG, but I did pick up a bottle of 2021 Penfolds Bin180 for a fair bit of coin at a tasting of this and a couple of other Penfolds special wines at Magill Estate today

[Chuck]

Whilst it's hard to swallow $1,000 the 21 vintage would be the one to get if you are a collector. 21 was an astonishingly great vintage in the Barossa/Eden. I've been loading up on them for a while now albeit at a fraction of the HOG pricing. Fruit quality has been stunning. Hard to see any wine maker stuffing this fruit up but I have seen a few who pushed the envelope of ripeness too far resulting in unbalanced fruit bombs. 22 shaping up as pretty good too; more elegant in style.

[JamieAdelaide]

Stopped counting at eighty, $1000 AUD bottles of wines, in a Hong King wine shop. Including HofG and Grange! As common as muck these days.

Lucky I know my wines and spent $35 AUD on a Nebbiolo of Barbaresco quality, to watch the footy with in my hotel room!