W L
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 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 bread and a 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 : “ 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 ”.
The 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 forefathers and each generation strives for excellence . It is hardly surprising , therefore , that we are not only talking about an award winning winery , but a winery that now not only makes several of the worlds truly ‘ iconic ’ wines , but also produces some of the world ’ s finest wines across the board .
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
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