W L
THE CURIOUS QUAFFER
WINE ROYALTY
When it comes to wine , particularly to the world of fine wine , I guess we are used to hearing people eulogising about a certain wine maker , about a particular winery or about a specific wine from somewhere in the wine making world . We all have our favourites , I guess !
Some plaudits are fully justified , others perhaps not . Whether they are , or are not , the truth is that there are probably only a handful of wines , and a handful of wineries and wine makers , that can be truly called ‘ iconic ’ when it comes to the world of fine wine . That is not to denigrate or downplay the many other fantastic wines and wineries that we find all around the world today . However , an ‘ icon ’ is an ‘ icon ’ – and such are , by necessity I suppose , a rare bread and possess a status that is difficult to attain .
One winery , and definitely at least one ( and probably two or three ) of its wines , that sits at the top table , and which is very firmly in the ‘ icon ’ group , is the family owned Henschke winery in the Eden Valley region of South Australia . Many of you will probably know that the winery is probably best known for its fabled ‘ Hill of Grace ’ - one of Australia ’ s cult wines . I have been an enormous fan of , have followed and have been collecting Henschke wines , for many years now .
The history and the heritage
Behind all things great , whatever we are talking about and whatever the subject matter , there is always a story to tell , a history to recount or a heritage to discuss . The Henschke story , its 150 year history and the wineries heritage is a fascinating one . It is one that is so full of interest that I couldn ’ t possibly start to tell the story with anything like the detail it deserves .
The whole story started with Johann Christian Henschke who was born on Christmas eve 1803 . He was from Silesia and left his homeland for Australia in 1841 . In 1862 he purchased land in the North Rhine district , in what is now is called Keyneton , and in 1868 produced the first vintages of riesling and shiraz . Following Johann ’ s death in 1873 his son , Paul Gotthard Henschke , took over the running of the estate , until his death in 1914 . He was succeeded by his son Paul Alfred Henschke who gradually increased both production and the vineyard acreage . In about 1950 his youngest son , Cyril Alfred Henschke , then took charge . He began to experiment with the production of fine dry table wines and began phasing out fortified wines in 1952 ( fortified wines had been very much in vogue before then ). In 1979 Stephen Carl Henschke , Cyril ’ s youngest son , and his wife Prue took over the running of the winery . Today Stephen is the winemaker and Prue the viticulturist .
Today the wineries own website proudly maintains : “ Prue and I are the current ‘ keepers of the flame ’. Just as earlier generations have done , we want to manage the vineyards and winery so they can be passed on to the next generation in better condition than we inherited them . The last 50 years have been an incredible journey for the Australian wine industry . Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone are arguably the two oldest single vineyard wines produced in this country that tell the wine story of Australia . Our vision would not be complete without the expectation that future generations will uphold and perpetuate our belief that such ancient and unique single-vineyard sites can produce exceptional wines that are prized for their beauty and rarity .”
The Henschke story really is one of success , from beginning to end . Each generation of the Henschke family has built upon the success of the previous generation . Each generation continues the philosophy of its forefather . Each generation has strived for excellence . It is hardly surprising , therefore , that we are not only talking about an award winning winery , but a winery that now makes several of the worlds truly ‘ iconic ’ wines , whilst at the same time producing some of the world ’ s finest wines across the board too .
The wines
As with the Henschke history and heritage , I could not even start to scratch the surface and talk about the Henschke range of wines in this article . While they are perhaps most famous for its Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone their range and portfolio is as extensive as it is impressive . For now , I have picked out five of my favourites :
Mount Edelstone Shiraz
The Mount Edelstone vineyard , situated in the Eden Valley , was planted to shiraz over 100 years ago in 1912 . The wine was first bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 , when the winery was under the custodianship of Cyril Henschke who was one of the first winemakers to produce single-vineyard wines from Eden Valley . It is now undeniably one of Australia ’ s greatest shiraz wines ( and there is a lot of competition here ). Made from 100 % shiraz grapes , I personally love this wine . It is a wine that would almost certainly come in my top ten wines of all time . There is wonderful depth of colour , concentration of flavour , silky tannins and beautiful balance in this wine . I am currently still enjoying the 2005 vintage of this
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