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Marble Angel
The Barossa has been home to the history and heritage of grapegrowing and winemaking for over five generations. The Barossa was also home to great-uncle Julius Henschke, a famous craftsman, artist and sculptor. Julius was recognised for ornate headstones and angel sculptures at Gnadenberg Cemetery, as well as his most famous work, the inspiring War Memorial on North Terrace in Adelaide. The Angel of Compassion and Duty sculptures are acclaimed across the country. His craft focused on the most pristine white Angaston marble quarried next to the cabernet sauvignon vineyard at Light Pass, planted on ancient red clay and limestone soil, which brings out exquisite flavour and structure in the wine.
Hill of Peace
Joseph Hill
The traminer grape originated in the Tramin region of the north-east of Italy. This variety has been grown for centuries in French Alsace and Germany. The altitude, cool climate and sandy loam and shale soils of Lenswood are brilliantly suited to this variety. Gewürztraminer planted on the steep south facing Lenswood slopes lends beautiful aromatics and complexity to the traditional Eden Valley old fashioned rose petal flavours. Named in tribute to Joseph Hill Thyer who pioneered the first vines on this property in the early 1900s.
Peggy’s Hill
The riesling takes its name from a local landmark, Peggy’s Hill, at the top of the range between Eden Valley and Keyneton. Produced from selected traditional Henschke Eden Valley growers, whose vines are up to 50 years old, growing in low-vigour ancient Cambrian soils at around 500m altitude. The Eden Valley riesling displays exceptional varietal and regional characteristics.
Louis
A tribute to Louis Edmund Henschke (1919-1990), the fourth-generation grower of the Hill of Grace vineyard. His expertise as a vigneron has resulted in a legacy in the form of the famous vineyard being maintained using long-term organic principles. The semillon is a reserve selection from 50-year-old vines, grown in the Henschke vineyard at Eden Valley.
Stone Jar
The Stone Jar pays tribute to the original Henschke settlers and their rich and wonderfully varied traditions, which were carried on for generations. Stephen’s grandfather Paul Alfred sold his wine to local customers in stone jars, which in the Barossa was called a krug. The tempranillo and graciano vines were planted on rocky soils on the north facing slope at the range overlooking the village of Eden Valley, grown using organic and biodynamic practices and made using traditional winemaking techniques. In 2015 a small parcel of tempranillo was co-fermented with mataro and incorporated into the blend.
Archer’s Vineyard
The Archer’s chardonnay vineyard, planted in the mid-1980s, has been named as a tribute to Alan and Mary Archer and is located high in the central cool-climate Adelaide Hills. The property had formally belonged to Alan and Mary Archer who ran The Chesser Cellar, a dining institution in Adelaide for many years. Alan had previously sold my father Cyril’s wine in Adelaide and became a well-loved ‘mine host’ at the Chesser. Mary loved to grow her own vegetables for the restaurant in her well tended garden on the farm at Lenswood. The ancient well-drained sandy loam soils derived from a sedimentary shale bedrock ensure naturally low-yielding vines and concentrated fruit flavours. All fruit is handpicked from individual blocks and fermented separately and lees aged in oak barrels. The cool-climate Adelaide Hills provides purity of fruit, beautiful acidity, length of flavour and great ageing potential.
Coralinga
This sauvignon blanc is a tribute to the historic Coralinga homestead and apple orchard that was destroyed by bushfires in the early 1900s. The homestead was situated close by Henschke’s Lenswood property in the heart of the South Mount Lofty Ranges. At 550m, Lenswood has higher rainfall and humidity at the right time of the year, cooler temperatures to retain high natural acidity, and still enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes. The exotic aromatic qualities of the sauvignon blanc reflect the exceptional site of these vineyards and the suitability of this variety to the cool climate of the Adelaide Hills region.
Prue’s Verjus (non-alcoholic)
Verjus is a wonderful grapey condiment that can be used on salads, either straight from the bottle or in a low-kilojoule vinaigrette using walnut, olive or a neutral oil combination with honey or sugar, and sherry or balsamic vinegar. For deglazing, splash into the pan after sautéing light meats such as chicken or veal to make a light sauce. Verjus is mentioned in the medieval manuscript Le Menagier de Paris (c. 1392) and is a traditional seasoning in European wine-producing countries. All over France women produced both their own verjus and their own vinegar.
Hill of Roses
This wine is named as a tribute to Johann Gottlieb Rosenzweig, one of the early Barossa Lutheran pioneers who settled at Parrot Hill in Eden Valley. Their toil, perseverance and conservatism in hardship has meant the many generations that followed have rejoiced in the riches of those efforts. Shiraz, growing on the fertile slopes in the Eden Valley region, is just one of those blessings. The wine was produced from a small selection of low-yielding dry-grown shiraz vines from the Hill of Grace vineyard, named the Post Office block, that were a mere 20 years old and too young to be considered for inclusion in Hill of Grace. The quality of the grapes from this selection produced a wine that was too good to be declassified and warranted a separate bottling and limited release. The Post Office ruins are on the land that used to be Rosenzweig property, the Rosenzweig name translating from German to mean ‘rose twig’.
The Rose Grower
The nebbiolo grape originated in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy and is best known as the variety of Barolo and Barbaresco. It is believed that the name nebbiolo is derived from the Italian word nebbia, meaning fog. Henschke’s nebbiolo vines have been planted on rocky soils on an elevated foggy north facing slope at the source of the North Para River at the top of the range overlooking the village of Eden Valley, and named after the pioneering Roesler family, who managed the property as a dairy for generations. Roesler is an occupational name for rose grower.
Johanne Ida Selma Blanc de Noir MD
In 1997, Stephen and Prue embarked on a journey to handcraft an ultra-premium 100% sparkling wine from pinot noir, in addition to their dry table wine, and selected only the best fruit from specific clones and sites suited for this purpose at the Henschke Lenswood vineyard in the Adelaide Hills. Purchased as an apple orchard in 1981, the 550m site offers higher rainfall and humidity at the right time of year, which together with the cooler temperatures provides ideal conditions for this cool-climate grape variety. The vineyard contains some of the oldest pinot noir vines in the Adelaide Hills.
The Wheelwright
The Wheelwright pays tribute to the founding father of the Henschke winery and vineyards, winemaker Johann Christian Henschke. He was among the first generation of the early Barossa German pioneers of South Australia, and established the family winery in 1868. Johann Christian arrived as a skilled stonemason and wheelwright and planted his first vineyards in the high country of the picturesque Eden Valley. This wine is produced from Old-Vine shiraz planted in 1968, a century later, by fourth-generation Cyril Henschke. Decanting is recommended before serving. The inaugural release, the 2015 vintage, marked 150 years of Henschke family winemaking.
Johann’s Garden
Named as a tribute to the early Barossa Lutheran pioneers, many of whom carried the first name of Johann. Their toil, perseverance and conservatism in hardship has meant that the many generations that followed rejoiced in the riches of their prudent efforts. Barossa growers traditionally referred to their vineyard as their garden, from the German Weingarten. This blend is just one of those blessings. The traditions and culture have survived to this day, including the winemaking techniques used in this grenache blend. It is produced from low-yielding, old, gnarled, dry-grown bush and trellised vines on limestone soils from selected vineyards.
Mount Edelstone
The Mount Edelstone vineyard, situated in the Eden Valley, was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas, who founded South Australia. Unusual for its time, it was planted solely to shiraz. The ancient 500-million-year-old soils on the vineyard are deep red-brown clay-loam to clay, resulting in low yields from the 102-year-old dry-grown ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952, it became recognised as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines.
Tappa Pass
The Barossa has a core of traditional growers of Lutheran descent dating back five generations, staunchly continuing the traditions of their forebears. Occasionally, one or two parcels of fruit of overwhelming quality come over the weighbridge; this is such an example. The 50-year-old, low-yielding vines are growing in low-fertility Neoproterozoic soils more than 542 million years old, ranging from terra rossa to red-brown earths. The fully ripe black shiraz grapes were sourced from three grower vineyards in Tappa Pass, Light Pass and Eden Valley and were vinified in traditional open-top fermenters.
Croft
Fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his wife Prue purchased the property in the Adelaide Hills in 1981. At 550m, the Lenswood vineyards offer not only magnificent views over the traditional vine country but also higher rainfall and humidity at the right time of the year, cooler temperatures to retain high natural acidity, and still enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes. The chardonnay vineyard, which consists of seven clones, has taken its name from Frederick Croft, an orchardist who took up a neighbouring property in 1938.
Noble Rot Semillon
For centuries in Europe very late harvest wines have been made from grapes infected in the vineyard with the Botrytis cinerea mould, such as French sauternes and German beerenauslese. This mould, known as the Noble Rot, develops in the ripening grape berries causing higher sugar and acid levels to be achieved with corresponding enhancement of flavours and lusciousness of the wine.
Keyneton Euphonium
The Barossa hills village of Keyneton, pioneered by pastoralist Joseph Keynes in 1842, was a musical and cultural focus for the early settlers, and was home to the Henschke Family Brass Band and the Henschke winery. The Henschke Family Band was founded in 1888 by Paul Gotthard Henschke and later led by third-generation Paul Alfred Henschke, and featured wonderful wind instruments such as a B flat euphonium, cornet and E flat clarinet. The B flat euphonium, a large brass wind instrument, was made by the famous Zimmermann factory in Leipzig, Germany, in the late 19th century. The instruments were imported by musical entrepreneur, Carl Engel of Adelaide in the late 1900s and have been lovingly restored and remain in the Henschke family.
Julius
Cyril Henschke developed the Henschke reputation for premium riesling wines as early as the 1950s from the vineyard areas of Eden Valley, Keyneton and Springton in the Eden Valley wine region. This region provides ideal ripening conditions for the riesling grape and has a unique track record of exceptional ageing potential for the variety. The Eden Valley riesling vineyard is planted on sandy loam over gravel and bedrock with patches of clay. The wine is named after ancestor Julius Henschke, a highly acclaimed artist and sculptor.
Cyril Henschke
This wine carries the name of Stephen’s father, Cyril Henschke (1924-1979), as a tribute to one of Australia’s outstanding winemaking pioneers, renowned for old-vine single-vineyard and quality varietal table wines. Cyril planted cabernet sauvignon at Henschke’s Eden Valley vineyard in the 1960s.
Henry’s Seven
The shiraz, grenache, mataro, viognier blend is a tribute to Henry Evans who planted the first vineyard of seven acres at Keyneton in 1853. He quickly developed a reputation for producing the best wines in the southern colony. Following Henry’s death in 1868, his widow Sarah exercised her temperance convictions by closing the winery and uprooting all the winegrapes. This blend highlights the historical introduction of southern French and Spanish varieties to South Australia in those early pioneering days and reflects the history, religion and culture of the Barossa.
Percival's Mill
The Percival’s Mill Grüner Veltliner pays tribute to the early pioneering days of Lenswood in the high country of the Adelaide Hills. The demolished historic E.W. Percival’s timber mill once stood on Stephen and Prue Henschke’s Lenswood property on Croft Road in the early 1900s. Our grüner veltliner was planted in the Archer’s Vineyard block on the Lenswood property in 2011. The Lenswood district was historically covered by a dense eucalypt forest of magnificent candlebark gums; Eucalyptus rubida, and stringy bark; Eucalyptus obliqua. Over time the valley was established with apple orchards, due to the cool continental climate, making Lenswood one of the most highly regarded apple producing regions in Australia. The Henschke family took on ownership as a vineyard property in 1981, while maintaining extensive areas of native vegetation.
Innes Vineyard
The Adelaide Hills has an altitude ranging from 400-600m and a rainfall of around 700-1000mm. Soils consist of sandy loam overlying weathered shale and clay, which provide excellent conditions for viticulture. Littlehampton lies on the eastern side of the Adelaide Hills and has a unique aspect for superlative pinot gris. Viticulture was first established in the Adelaide Hills in 1839 by John Barton Hack near Mount Barker, just 5km from Littlehampton. Pinot gris, called tokay d’Alsace in France, grauburgunder in Germany and pinot grigio in Italy, has its origins in France and has become a highly regarded variety around the world.
Green's Hill
Fifth-generation winemakers Stephen and Prue Henschke established their Lenswood vineyard in the Adelaide Hills in 1981. At 550m, the Lenswood vineyards offer not only magnificent views over the traditional vine country but also higher rainfall and humidity at the right time of the year, cooler temperatures to retain high natural acidity, and still enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes. The riesling vineyard is planted on a perfect west facing slope on loam soil containing shale fragments. It was so named as it overlooks the apple orchards operated by the Green family since 1893.
Abbotts Prayer
Fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his wife Prue selected Lenswood in 1981 as a new vineyard site, just 50km from the ancient Mount Edelstone and Hill of Grace vineyards in the Eden Valley. At 550m, the Lenswood vineyard slopes offer not only beautiful views toward the old vine country but also higher rainfall and humidity at the right time of year, cooler temperatures to retain natural acidity, and still enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes. The Abbotts Prayer label links together the history, religion and pioneers of this mountainous region. The property along Coldstore Road, including the vineyards in the area originally known as Abbotts Flat, was established in the late 1800s and pioneered by the first settler, T N Mitchell.
Apple Tree Bench
The Apple Tree Bench label pays tribute to the farming traditions of Johann Christian Henschke, a Barossa pioneer who settled in the high-country of the historic Eden Valley. Now renowned for wines based on shiraz and riesling, the Henschke family’s early farm life revolved around the apple tree bench, where the produce from the farm was placed before being stored in the cool cellar.
Giles
In 1981, fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his wife Prue purchased a property in the Adelaide Hills with the intention of planting varieties well suited to the cooler climate of the region. The vineyard was originally part of a beautiful valley of apple orchards and natural forest that were destroyed by the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983. Sitting at an altitude of 550m with an annual average rainfall of 1100mm, the Lenswood vineyard slopes offer not only beautiful views towards the older vine country, but also provide enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes, together with cooler temperatures to retain natural acidity. The pinot noir vineyard has been named after Charles Giles, an early pioneer whose descendants had managed the property as an apple orchard since 1864.
The Alan Reserve
In 1981, fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his wife Prue purchased a property in the Adelaide Hills with the intention of planting varieties well suited to the cooler climate of the region. The vineyard was originally part of a beautiful valley of apple orchards and natural forest that were destroyed by the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983. Sitting at an altitude of 550m with an annual average rainfall of 1100mm, the Lenswood vineyard slopes offer not only beautiful views towards the older vine country, but also provide enough sunshine to fully ripen the grapes, together with cooler temperatures to retain natural acidity. This reserve pinot noir is produced from hand-selected fruit from the best plots of 25-yearold vines and named as a tribute to Alan Archer, whose love of wine and food helped create The Chesser Cellar’s fame in Adelaide.
Five Shillings
Five Shillings pays tribute to Paul Gotthard, the second-generation Henschke winemaker of the early Barossa Lutheran pioneers of South Australia. In 1862 he and his pioneering father Johann Christian established the Henschke winery in the high country of the historic Eden Valley, planted seven acres of vines, and in 1868 sold the first wines. In 1873, after a transfer of five shillings, he continued on the winemaking tradition from his father and began to build a reputation for quality wines. Among the first wines they produced in the 1860s were ‘dry white’ (likely made from riesling) and ‘dry red’ (likely made from shiraz and mataro). This wine replicates the blend of Gotthard's early ‘dry reds’ and is produced from low yielding, ungrafted, biodynamically grown Eden Valley shiraz planted on 540 million-year-old red-brown earths, and blended with mataro growing on the sandy soils of the Barossa Valley.
Noble Gewürztraminer
The Noble Gewürztraminer is produced from fully ripened gewürztraminer grapes grown on Archer’s Vineyard. The Archer’s gewürztraminer vineyard, planted in 2002, has been named as a tribute to Alan and Mary Archer of Lenswood and is located high in the central cool-climate Adelaide Hills. The property had previously belonged to Alan and Mary Archer who ran The Chesser Cellar, a dining institution in Adelaide for many years. Alan had previously sold my father Cyril’s wine in Adelaide and Mary grew her produce for the restaurant in her garden on the farm at Lenswood. The ancient well-drained sandy loam soils derived from a sedimentary shale bedrock ensure naturally low-yielding vines and concentrated fruit flavours. The handpicked late harvested fruit had natural botrytis, result- ing in greater complexity and lusciousness. The cool-climate Adelaide Hills provides purity of fruit, beautiful acidity, length of flavour and excellent ageing potential. Serve cold with fresh fruit desserts and cheeses.
Hill of Grace
100% shiraz grapes from pre-phylloxera material brought from Europe by the early settlers in the mid-1800s and grown on the Hill of Grace vineyard in the Eden Valley. | Over 165 years ago Johann Christian Henschke came from Silesia to settle and farm in the Eden Valley region. By the time third-generation Paul Alfred Henschke took over the reins in 1914, the famous Hill of Grace vines were more than 50 years old. They were planted around the 1860s by an ancestor, Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just north-west of the winery. The red-brown earth grading to deep silty loam has excellent moisture-holding capacity for these dry-grown vines, which sit at an altitude of 400m, with an average rainfall of 520mm. Hill of Grace is a unique, delineated, historic single vineyard that lies opposite a beautiful old Lutheran church which is named after a picturesque region in Silesia called Gnadenberg, meaning Hill of Grace. Cyril Henschke made the first single-vineyard shiraz wine from this vineyard in 1958 from handpicked grapes vinified in traditional open-top fermenters.