Partagus,
I did a Mt Edelstone vertical a couple of years back with the Henschke's. The link to the article is below, and the tasting notes posted also. I seem to have recalled a few barnyard notes but otherwise liked the wine.
http://www.thewiningpro.com/?q=node/50
1973- A lovely, mature brick red, leathery, soft, refined, a savoury style, aged in old wood. A lovely wine from what was a very good vintage in the Eden Valley,a dry, warm year. Alcohol weighs in at 13%, a number that was historically high for the wine, previous vintages had all been in the 12's.
1979- Corked. No, seriously the whole room was corked. For a room of 50 or so people, they couldn't find any bottles that weren't corked, so they just poured them anyway, and then Stephen Henschke told us in no uncertain terms just why he had moved on from tree bark as a closure. Enough said.
1986- Probably the most revered Mt Edelstone, and looking superb at nearly twenty years of age. Still quite dark at the core, browning a touch at the rim, with a soft, lifted, subtly spicy nose showing leather, earth and tobacco notes. So composed in the mouth, with lovely red and black fruit flavours laced with roast spice. An outstanding wine, and you knew it.
1990- As good as the 86 was, I thought this was better. Plums, anise, tobacco, leather, spice and pepper, an evocative nose. The veritable peacocks tail arrives in the mouth, an explosive, expansive wine with spice and power on the palate and a balanced, impeccable finish. Huge yield of 4 tonnes per acre for the vineyard, Stephen Henschke feels that the wine could have been even better with more control in the vineyard. However, this does not change the fact that it is a classic wine.
1994- Dark, closed, a long term wine. Very primary in nature, little sign of aging with the still primary fruit dominating. Amazingly backward, even the 96 already looks older. Will continue to evolve slowly over the next two decades. A long term keeper.
1996- Tobacco and leather and undergrowth/barnyard notes , showing more development than its more repressed older brother (94) Here the change in trend( bigger alc) starts to take effect, with the alcohol giving a touch of warmth to the finish. Stephen Henschke describes it as a picture book vintage. Interestingly, he sees 94, 99 and 2002 as quite similar vintages to each other, with the unusual companionship of high ripeness ,high acid and low ph setting the tone.
2001-Riper, sweeter on the nose, more lifted confectionary characters and vanilla oak showing on this still very young wine. An explanation of the oak use and how they see the specific effect of different forests on the final wine also ensued with this vintage, with Stephen saying that he felt Allier oak added a mintiness to the fruit, while Vosge oak bought nutty aroma's and flavours. A lot of thought goes into these things. Anyway, this is a ripe and spicy number from one of the hottest years, showing very deep colours. Needs time at the moment.
2002- A lighter more floral nose, violets, even a hint of mint, but with very deep colours for what was seen as a cool year, liquorice, sweet dark spice. Described as an Indian summer, the vintage had miniscule yields, and contradictory to usual expectations, high alcohol, though not purely by design. The first year of 100% screwcap seals. Bravo. By the way, this wine looks great, not sure if it will be a thirty year prospect but a lot of people are going to enjoy drinking it. Classic Henschke, classic Mt Edelstone.
Cheers
