Critic Scores:

• 99 pts – Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal
• 98 pts – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
• 98 pts – Ken Gargett, Quill & Pad
• 97 pts – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate 
• 97 pts – Angus Hughson, Vinous
• 97 pts – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
• 97 pts – Jeni Port, Wine Pilot
• 95 pts – Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

First bottled in 1952 and widely regarded as Australia's longest consecutively produced single-vineyard wine, Mount Edelstone holds a singular place in this country's vinous heritage. The 16-hectare site rises to 400 metres in the Eden Valley, its east-facing aspect capturing the cool morning light across ancient 500-million-year-old soils of deep red-brown clay loam — geology that has shaped the wine's distinctive character across seven decades of continuous production. The ungrafted, own-rooted centenarian vines were planted from pre-phylloxera James Busby stock by Ronald Angas in 1912, and have been under Henschke stewardship since Cyril Henschke first bottled the wine in 1952 and purchased the vineyard outright in 1974.

The 2021 season — the coolest in Eden Valley since 2002 — delivered a wine of uncommon refinement, energy and aromatic precision. Leading the critical field, Andrew Caillard MW of The Vintage Journal awarded 99 points, describing a wine of "superb fruit definition, energy and flow" — pure and inky in texture, with vivid raspberry pastille, blackberry, fine brambly structure and a firm, spice-laced finish. Dave Brookes of the Halliday Wine Companion (98 pts) was equally emphatic, calling it "an absolute stunner" underpinned by "superfine, powdered granitic tannins" — a wine he believes will go down as "one of the greats." Erin Larkin of The Wine Advocate (97 pts) found a wine that articulates its place with unmistakable clarity — velvety and layered with raw cocoa tannins, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, raspberry and blood plum, driven through a long finish by cool minerality and genuine old-vine concentration. Huon Hooke of The Real Review (97 pts) singled out its peppery intensity with airing, calling it simply "a stellar vintage for this wine."

Deep ruby with a vivid crimson core, the bouquet is intricate and aromatic: intense raspberry, blackberry and dark plum interwoven with sage, bay leaf, herb garden, anise, violets, olive tapenade and a whisper of mocha.

The palate is plush yet precise — a seamless progression of spiced dark fruit and fine velvety tannins, underpinned by lively acidity and a long, mineral finish. Matured for 18 months in predominantly seasoned French and American oak hogsheads with just 9% new oak, the élevage is deliberately restrained, allowing the ancient vineyard to speak without interference.