Henschke Hill of Grace 2016

Deep garnet. A quiet start – builds slowly – black plum, preserved fig, blackberry, briar, earth, leather, cola.

Classic seamless and deep concentration of fruit on the palate – quite subtle, not forward in the least – it’s dark and intriguing and harmonious. Tannins are fine and savoury, tight and long. Oak is a picture of integration. The fruit is intense, exploring added notes of aniseed, bitter chocolate and more on the palate.

This is a wine that urges you to think about IT, it’s not going to deliver everything on a plate to you immediately. You are required to put something into the process, too! It remains tight-lipped, structured and firm  . . . just for the present. Like the Mount Edelstone, Hill of Grace is assured of a long life.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic