If life is all about timing, then former Hunter winemaker Gwyn Olsen certainly got it right.
Olsen left Newcastle for the Barossa two years back to take up the senior winemaking role at Henschke, one of the biggest jobs in the country.
The Eden Valley winery is renowned for its unwavering commitment to quality and, more specifically, is home to the most prestigious single vineyard wine in Australia.
A bottle of the famed Hill of Grace shiraz will leave you precious little change from $1000 - maybe enough for a pizza "with the lot".
Olsen, who beat a red-hot field of applicants, arrived for the wet but not unmanageable 2023 vintage, before this year's dream 2024 vintage which produced fruit quality beyond anything she has seen before - and that's saying something after the stellar 2014 and 2018 vintages in the Hunter Valley.
"It was remarkable, exceptionally dry but with only one four-day heat spike," she said.
"The wines, in terms of colour and flavour, are remarkable. It will be a vintage to marvel at for years to come.
"Fruit from the Hill of Grace and Grandfathers blocks was easily the best I've seen in my life.
"I was tasting through ferment with Stephen [Henschke] and he said it was some of the best wine he'd ever seen off this vineyard. I thought wow, that's saying something because he's been making wine for 40 years off these vines."
The 5.98 hectare vineyard - the first plantings go back just over 160 years - is renowned for its dazzling shiraz, with small plantings of semillon, mataro and riesling vines.
"There's two key factors with the fruit quality at Hill of Grace," she continued.
"Firstly, obviously the outstanding site ... Grandfathers block has some of the oldest vines in the world.
"Secondly is Prue Henschke's fastidious work as vigneron in terms of soil health, getting the vines in balance, nurturing it and respecting its entire little ecosystem. That can't be overstated.
"After that we own a vineyard in Adelaide Hills producing pinot noir and chardonnay, and we have a number of quality growers dotted around the Barossa.
"There are lots of good growers in the Barossa, but certainly Henschke has some of the finest."
But having fruit of that quality and pricing - aside from the $975 Hill of Grace, there's the Mount Edelstone shiraz at $260, Cyril Henschke cabernet at $180, The Wheelwright shiraz at $155 and Tappa Pass shiraz at $125 to name just a few - comes with high expectations and pressure.
"It does, but the job is still to make the best wine you can from the fruit available, so in that sense it doesn't change," she said.
"And those iconic wines like Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone, all you're trying to do is showcase the vineyard. It's doing the work ... we just guide it along.
"But overall, you're chasing the wow factor at every price point. That's the goal."
Does she ever stop and think she now has one of the plum jobs in Australian wine?
"I still pinch myself sometimes."
WINE REVIEWS by Rick Allen
LIGHT, BRIGHT AND COMPLEX
Mayfield Mrs Crawford Pinot Noir, 2023
$37
This is the first release of this wine and pays tribute to the family that owned and developed the Mayfield property in Orange for more than 60 years. It's silky, light and bright. Aromas of cherries, raspberry, mushroom and sage flow through on a velvet texture. Has that hard-to-define forest undergrowth complexity. It's good drinking.
A BALANCING ACT
Apricus Hill Chardonnay, 2023
$40
A single vineyard Great Southern wine from the highest vineyard in the Denmark sub-region with its own micro-climate. It's a sunny north-facing site with cooling sea breezes that allow for long, slow ripening. Lovely balance here with stonefruit, nectarine and grapefruit working together, citrussy acid and vanillan oak. A tasty, easy drinker.
BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
Earthworks Riesling, 2023
$18
This is labelled as South Australian, so is presumably a multi-regional blend - perhaps Clare and Eden Valley. It's not an out and out star, but at its price it certainly represents good value. It opens with a bold slash of tangy grapefruit, with lime juice and a squeeze of lemon in the background. Clean and fresh with good varietal balance. At First Choice.
