TNS: Henschke range (inc. HOG) + 91 Meshach & 99 Vat 8
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:09 pm
Thursday – 16th September 2004
2003 Henschke TillyÂ’s Vineyard Semillon/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc: Intense nose. Florals, grass, hints of tropicals on broad citrus and a hint of cream. Smooth mouthfeel, enhanced maybe by a bit of oak maturation, with great, integrated, lively acidity enabling the grass and lemon fruit to linger very well. Broad yet fresh. Lovely wine. Highly Recommended.
2003 Henschke GreenÂ’s Hill Riesling: Broad, smooth, lime and green apple. Minerals are very noticeable on the mid palate. Good fine acidity. Nice but nothing special. Recommended.
2003 Henschke Julius Riesling: Powerful lime. Strong florals. Big with integrated acidity. Highly Recommended.
2003 Littlehampton Innes Pinot Gris: Little amount of citrus and floral flavours. Lean. Nuttiness and spice starts to dominate on the middle and hot alcohol on the end. Long but not enjoyable. A disaster.
2002 Henschke Croft Chardonnay: Beautifully balanced nose of great intensity. I am afraid to taste it as it could not get better. Intense melon, butterscotch, cream, grapefruit and high quality oak. Smooth mouthfeel. Nice acidity. A hint of sweet nut and other barrel characters. Good length. Highly Recommended.
2002 Henschke HenryÂ’s Seven Shiraz/Grenache/Viognier (under screwcap): Beautifully sweet and quite complex nose of raspberry jam, apricot and florals with enough savoury restraint. The palate is too much like a strawberry milkshake mixed with a bag of lollies to be considered a serious wine. The mid and back palate is extremely simple, boring and unstructured. Not recommended.
2001 Henschke Keyneton Estate Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot: Aromatic nose with ripe red fruits and plums with a cool restraint of sweet asparagus and a hint of savouiness. Harmonious and quite silky. Good length. Highly Recommended.
2000 Henschke Cyril Cabernet Sauvignon: Complex aromatics with cedar on an average base of sweet Cabernet fruit that is maybe slightly too much on the cool, green end of acceptable Cabernet ripeness. Finesse, balance and harmony with a fine, fine structure. Classy wine with just enough intensity but a bit short. Despite its tightrope walking on the line of acceptable, I still rate this wine Highly Recommended as it was intriguing.
2000 Henschke AbbottÂ’s Prayer Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon: An absolutely fantastic nose of plums, dust, wet stone, florals and some spice. Nose of the night! The front palate is very classy but the wine dies on the middle and back palate. It ends up being nothing more than a very nice Recommended wine, despite the great interest and excitement it initially creates.
2001 Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz: Beautifully perfumed and intense sweet spice and fruitcake Shiraz fruit with a very noticeable amount of anise. Great balance throughout the wine aided by fine, ripe tannins. Broad without needing to rely on power, although enough is there. Nice caramel on the finish. Excellent/Outstanding.
1998 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz: Very ripe fruitcake Shiraz with some minerality and leather savouriness with noticeable tar. Great breadth and intensity. More broad than I expected this wine to be. Silky mouthfeel with fine ripe tannins. Enough control from its structure but nothing truly great here although one of the glasses I had displayed a very impressive tannic suppleness (Note: I had a fair number of glasses of this and the previous wine). Great length. An Excellent/Outstanding wine, although not as profound as I expect of a wine with such a great reputation and price tag. The only hint of greatness was a little extra complexity for a wine of its ripeness and that one glass with awesome tannin.
Aside 1: As Stephen Henschke was explaining that Prue (also present) had done much study into the colour of wine, using this colour indicator as a measure of quality, he said that 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002 were the greatest recent Shiraz vintages for Henschke. Each of these vintages had colour units over 2.5, with 2002 having colour units over 3. Stephen said that 2002 will probably be the greatest vintage since 1959.
Aside 2: Stephen believed that cork quality had diminished over the past 20 years. In 2002, 10% of the Hill of Grace will be under screwcap. Stephen also mentioned that he has bottles of Hill of Grace under screwcap since 1995.
After we finished all the 1998 Henschke Hill of Grace and 2001 Henschke Mount Edelstone within a 200 metre radius, we opened another 2 wines:
1999 TyrrellÂ’s Vat 8 Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon: The last Vat 8 with Coonawarra Cabernet. The Shiraz is obviously from the Hunter. The nose displays a fair bit of savouriness on a base of very powerful dark fruits. The palate conveys a wine built for the long haul. Big but very, very tight. Great balance, power and restraint. It will be great to look at this wine again in 10 years, as long as the savouriness does not start to dominate. Rated Excellent.
1991 Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz: “I don’t know about that Henschke gear, but this is the good stuff!†commented the one who had just retrieved this wine from the cellar, with his nose deep in the glass. I agreed. Massive wine. Great power. Ripe blackberry that has just finished soaking up the American oak hogsheads with tar, spice and leather beautifully controlled by a strong, cool structure. I though this might be the 1991 Hill of Grace. Very long. Another 3 years until it hits its drinking window. Rated Outstanding.
My sincerest "thanks" goes to the organisers of this most enjoyable evening.
Adair
2003 Henschke TillyÂ’s Vineyard Semillon/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc: Intense nose. Florals, grass, hints of tropicals on broad citrus and a hint of cream. Smooth mouthfeel, enhanced maybe by a bit of oak maturation, with great, integrated, lively acidity enabling the grass and lemon fruit to linger very well. Broad yet fresh. Lovely wine. Highly Recommended.
2003 Henschke GreenÂ’s Hill Riesling: Broad, smooth, lime and green apple. Minerals are very noticeable on the mid palate. Good fine acidity. Nice but nothing special. Recommended.
2003 Henschke Julius Riesling: Powerful lime. Strong florals. Big with integrated acidity. Highly Recommended.
2003 Littlehampton Innes Pinot Gris: Little amount of citrus and floral flavours. Lean. Nuttiness and spice starts to dominate on the middle and hot alcohol on the end. Long but not enjoyable. A disaster.
2002 Henschke Croft Chardonnay: Beautifully balanced nose of great intensity. I am afraid to taste it as it could not get better. Intense melon, butterscotch, cream, grapefruit and high quality oak. Smooth mouthfeel. Nice acidity. A hint of sweet nut and other barrel characters. Good length. Highly Recommended.
2002 Henschke HenryÂ’s Seven Shiraz/Grenache/Viognier (under screwcap): Beautifully sweet and quite complex nose of raspberry jam, apricot and florals with enough savoury restraint. The palate is too much like a strawberry milkshake mixed with a bag of lollies to be considered a serious wine. The mid and back palate is extremely simple, boring and unstructured. Not recommended.
2001 Henschke Keyneton Estate Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot: Aromatic nose with ripe red fruits and plums with a cool restraint of sweet asparagus and a hint of savouiness. Harmonious and quite silky. Good length. Highly Recommended.
2000 Henschke Cyril Cabernet Sauvignon: Complex aromatics with cedar on an average base of sweet Cabernet fruit that is maybe slightly too much on the cool, green end of acceptable Cabernet ripeness. Finesse, balance and harmony with a fine, fine structure. Classy wine with just enough intensity but a bit short. Despite its tightrope walking on the line of acceptable, I still rate this wine Highly Recommended as it was intriguing.
2000 Henschke AbbottÂ’s Prayer Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon: An absolutely fantastic nose of plums, dust, wet stone, florals and some spice. Nose of the night! The front palate is very classy but the wine dies on the middle and back palate. It ends up being nothing more than a very nice Recommended wine, despite the great interest and excitement it initially creates.
2001 Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz: Beautifully perfumed and intense sweet spice and fruitcake Shiraz fruit with a very noticeable amount of anise. Great balance throughout the wine aided by fine, ripe tannins. Broad without needing to rely on power, although enough is there. Nice caramel on the finish. Excellent/Outstanding.
1998 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz: Very ripe fruitcake Shiraz with some minerality and leather savouriness with noticeable tar. Great breadth and intensity. More broad than I expected this wine to be. Silky mouthfeel with fine ripe tannins. Enough control from its structure but nothing truly great here although one of the glasses I had displayed a very impressive tannic suppleness (Note: I had a fair number of glasses of this and the previous wine). Great length. An Excellent/Outstanding wine, although not as profound as I expect of a wine with such a great reputation and price tag. The only hint of greatness was a little extra complexity for a wine of its ripeness and that one glass with awesome tannin.
Aside 1: As Stephen Henschke was explaining that Prue (also present) had done much study into the colour of wine, using this colour indicator as a measure of quality, he said that 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002 were the greatest recent Shiraz vintages for Henschke. Each of these vintages had colour units over 2.5, with 2002 having colour units over 3. Stephen said that 2002 will probably be the greatest vintage since 1959.
Aside 2: Stephen believed that cork quality had diminished over the past 20 years. In 2002, 10% of the Hill of Grace will be under screwcap. Stephen also mentioned that he has bottles of Hill of Grace under screwcap since 1995.
After we finished all the 1998 Henschke Hill of Grace and 2001 Henschke Mount Edelstone within a 200 metre radius, we opened another 2 wines:
1999 TyrrellÂ’s Vat 8 Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon: The last Vat 8 with Coonawarra Cabernet. The Shiraz is obviously from the Hunter. The nose displays a fair bit of savouriness on a base of very powerful dark fruits. The palate conveys a wine built for the long haul. Big but very, very tight. Great balance, power and restraint. It will be great to look at this wine again in 10 years, as long as the savouriness does not start to dominate. Rated Excellent.
1991 Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz: “I don’t know about that Henschke gear, but this is the good stuff!†commented the one who had just retrieved this wine from the cellar, with his nose deep in the glass. I agreed. Massive wine. Great power. Ripe blackberry that has just finished soaking up the American oak hogsheads with tar, spice and leather beautifully controlled by a strong, cool structure. I though this might be the 1991 Hill of Grace. Very long. Another 3 years until it hits its drinking window. Rated Outstanding.
My sincerest "thanks" goes to the organisers of this most enjoyable evening.
Adair
The 1994 would still make it into my top 10 of all time; to my palate it's a better wine than the 1991 Hill of Grace, which in turn is a great wine in it's own right, though quite different stylistically ( 