THE CURIOUS QUAFFER
HENSCHKE
When it comes to wine, particularly to the world of fine wine, I
guess we are used to hearing people eulogising about various wine
makers, about wineries or about a particular wine from somewhere
in the wine making world.
Some such plaudits are fully justified; others perhaps not. Whether
such plaudits are, or are not, deserved in any individual case there are,
though, 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 down play the many
other fantastic wines and wineries that we can find all over the world
these days. However, an ‘icon’ is an ‘icon’ – and such are, by necessity
I suppose, a rare breed 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 very firmly 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 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 in this month’s article.
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: “Stephen and
Prue, with their three children Johann, Justine and Andreas, quietly
continue a proud heritage and the philosophy for outstanding quality.
They are mindful of the fact that more than 145 years of grape growing
and winemaking, spanning six generations, has been an integral part
of Australian quality wine history”.
42 wirrallife.com