Joy of Terroir 2011

November - Hill of Grace, Eden Valley

Henschke’s Hill of Grace vineyard in South Australia’s Eden Valley produces what is arguably Australia’s most famous Shiraz. It has been a single-vineyard bottling since 1958 and is one of just 11 wines rated as ‘Exceptional’ in the Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine. The 4ha of Shiraz vines planted on the 8ha plot are still on their own roots and the oldest, the Grandfather’s block, originate from prephylloxera material brought over by early European settlers and planted in the 1860s. The Hill of Grace name is a translation from the German ‘Gnadenberg’, also a region in Silesia, and given to the Lutheran church across the road. Away from passing Merino sheep flocks, the old vines, tended with organic and biodynamic practices, yield just 2.5 tonnes per hectare from an alluvial soil of sand over clay.