Henschke, 'Mount Edelstone' Eden Valley Shiraz, 2022
Henschke, 'Mount Edelstone' Eden Valley Shiraz, 2022
- 75cl
- 14.5%
- Red Still
- Shiraz
- Organic
- Biodynamic
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Optimal drinking window: 2026 - 2062
Est. delivery in early summer, 2026
Mount Edelstone takes its name from the German Edelstein “gemstone”, a nod to the small yellow opals once unearthed in these soils. There’s history in every sense here: the vineyard was planted back in 1912 by Ronald Angas, descendant of George Fife Angas, one of the key figures in South Australia’s founding, and remarkably - for the era, dedicated entirely to Shiraz.
This release marks the wine’s 70th vintage, a milestone that underlines Mount Edelstone’s place as one of Australia’s great single-vineyard icons.
Mount Edelstone vineyard sits at 400 metres elevation on the eastern ridge of the Eden Valley, planted on red clay over limestone and ironstone. The vines, planted in 1912, are dry-grown and benefit from the valley's cool nights and warm days. The ancient soils provide excellent drainage whilst retaining enough moisture to support the vines through dry summers. This combination of elevation, soil, and old vines creates the wine's characteristic balance of intensity and elegance.
Eden Valley sits in the Adelaide Hills, distinguished from the neighbouring Barossa Valley by its higher elevation and cooler climate. The region is known for producing more elegant, structured wines compared to Barossa's power and richness. Eden Valley's varied topography and cooler nights help preserve natural acidity whilst still allowing full ripening. The region has built its reputation on exceptional Riesling and refined Shiraz from some of Australia's oldest vineyard sites.
The 2022 vintage in Eden Valley caught many producers off guard with its sheer generosity. After a string of challenging seasons, the region enjoyed near-ideal conditions with steady winter rains, a mild spring, and crucially, cool nights throughout the ripening period that preserved the natural acidity Eden Valley is famous for. The harvest stretched longer than usual, allowing winemakers to pick at optimal ripeness without the usual rush against heat spikes.
What emerged from the cellars shows Eden Valley at its most expressive. The Rieslings sing with that distinctive lime-citrus intensity while maintaining remarkable freshness, and the Shiraz displays the region's trademark spice and pepper with ripe, approachable tannins that don't demand years of patience. We're finding these wines drinking beautifully now, though the better examples will reward cellaring until 2035. It's the sort of vintage that reminds you why Eden Valley carved out its reputation in the first place.
What the critics say:
"The 2022 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz is bright, supple, spicy, savory and sweet. It is complex and shapely, persistent and delicate, with notes of bay leaf, raspberry seed, tapenade, wet moss and brine. This is a beautiful wine, and one of the most lovely Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shirazes I have tasted on release. I love the wines from the 2022 vintage; it may forever live in the shadow of the great 2021 vintage that came before it, but not in my heart. It has a pH of 3.43, 5.8 grams per liter of total acidity and 14.5% alcohol. According to Henschke: "The winter of 2021 brought good rainfall, refilling soil profiles, and the cool, slow start to the growing season resulted in budburst occurring two weeks later than average. An extreme hail event on October 28 decimated the young-shoot growth across our vineyards in Keyneton, significantly reducing crop potential. Late flowering (late November to early December) avoided the cold and windy conditions, resulting in good fruit set, albeit with smaller yields. A burst of summer heat, without extremes, supported berry development and balanced canopy growth. Welcome rain in late January occurred just before veraison and ripening, leading into a mild and dry finish to summer. The 2022 vintage was late, with harvest dates one to two weeks later than the historical average. The resulting wines have great elegance with excellent aromatic and flavor intensity, bright acidity and wonderful aging potential. Mount Edelstone has been crafted by the Henschke family for over 70 years and is one of the longest consecutively produced single-vineyard wines in Australia. Planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who played a significant role in the foundation of South Australia, the Mount Edelstone Vineyard comprises solely of Shiraz, which was unusual for its time. The unique geological make up of deep red-brown clay-loam to clay results in low yields from the ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 by fourth-generation winemaker Cyril Henschke.""
"Deep, bright purple-red colour; fresh and bright young-wine aromas with notes of of blackberry underlying the fresh and dried herbs, smoked meats, pepper and mixed spices. Great depth of flavour and concentration but also supreme elegance and harmony. The balance is so impressive in such a young Edelstone. There are lashings of tannins but they are lovely supple, fine-grained tannins, in perfect harmony with the wine. An exceptional vintage indeed."
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