2021 Mount Edelstone Shiraz

Even though the vines are over 100 years old, Prue reports they are still vigorous and profound.   East-facing and lapping up the morning sun, Mount Edlestone is fabulously expressive and uncommonly aromatic in 2021, and I swear the colour is a couple of pantones darker than usual, too.  You are presented with an ostentatious bunch of flowers on the nose, and it takes a few heartbeats for a deep red wine experience to occur.  While you find your bearings, the thrum of a throaty engine kicks in, and while the tannins seem imperceptible to the taste, you can see them pulsating on the finish.  This is an action-packed silent movie of a wine and while the volume of flavour is tremendous, there is a keen chalkiness and degree of athletic refinement that tethers the whole experience to the ground.  Calm, deliberate, detailed and celestial, Prue knows when to pick this wine, and I feel she has nailed each bunch with Swiss precision in 2021 because every sip has effortless grace despite the scale and directness of the flavour.  This wine has a thrilling future ahead of it, and it is another horizon-expanding example of what this incredible vineyard is capable of.

The 2021 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz was planted in 1912 and was 16 hectares from own-rooted, pre-phylloxera James Busby vine stock. The first Mount Edelstone wine was produced in 1952, from 40-year-old vines. The success of the Mount Edelstone was the inspiration for the Hill of Grace single-vineyard wine to be produced from the 1958 vintage. The Mount Edelstone vineyard is planted at 400 meters in elevation and has an easterly aspect trellised to the Scott Henry system, capturing the morning sun and avoiding the hot afternoon sun. The wine is velvety and layered with raw cocoa tannins, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, raspberry and blood plum. This has all the concentration and intensity that we know and love of Mount Edelstone; it speaks clearly to Eden Valley as a place, with notes of sage, bay, crushed rocks and a cool minerality that drives it through the long finish. This is a superb wine. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The Mount Edelstone vineyard was planted on ancient reddish-brown clay loam soils in 1912, and these centenarian vines always yield a wine of depth and rich complexity. The 2021 is no exception, and its velvety palate is packed with perfumed dark berry fruit, sandalwood, cedar, black pepper and sage, as well as a lick of sweet oak spice. Despite the headiness of the fruit, the wine doesn’t lack freshness, and the plush, deep-pile tannins also help to bring focus to the wine. Although it’s tempting to drink it now, time in bottle will repay patience by allowing the wine to unfurl further over the years. Harvested 31 March-12 April. Matured in 9% new and 91% seasoned hogsheads, of which 80% French and 20% American.