Henschke Wine Tasting at Wine Watch

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 07:00 PM

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“The food we were given was no more than eatable, but the patron was not mean about drink; he allowed us two litres of wine a day each, knowing that if a plongeur is not given two litres he will steal three.”

- George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

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I knew there was a reason I liked George Orwell and two liters is my kind of ration when it comes to wine- that is why I like Australia.  Australia is the only country that I have visited where they offered us beer after every wine tasting, Coopers was the brew of choice and it is so refreshing to have a beer after drinking a lot of red wine, especially Australian Shiraz.

After this first trip down under I fell in love with Australian wines and have been selling and collecting wines from Australia for over 15 years now.  With the bottom falling out of the market in 2008 we have struggled to sell some of the higher end brands that were developed in the 1990's but that is no problem because I am happy to drink these wines as they are some of the best examples of this variety on the face of the earth.  Tonight we are featuring one of the ultimate collectibles in the world of Australian wines and one of the oldest Shiraz vines on earth the Henschke Hill of Grace planted in 1860! 

Although we don’t have the Hill of Grace on the menu this evening we have all of the other wines from this famous property and our good friend Paul Dietz from Negociants USA to tell us the story of the oldest Shiraz wines on earth. 

This is a seated event at the store and is limited to 14 tasters, the fee for this tasting is $75 + Tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

 

 

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Henschke Wine Tasting at Wine Watch with Special Guest Paul Dietz
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
7:00 PM

 

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2016 Henschke Julius Riesling
Price: $37.50       Sale $33.00          Case $383

Bright, pale gold with vibrant lime hues. Lifted aromas of citrus blossom, kaffir limeleaf, bath salts and lime zest, with hints of stone-fruit, lemongrass and green peppercorns. Intense and focused, the palate shows concentrated flavors of zesty lime,ripe citrus and green peppercorn, supported by a pure, clean line of refined acidity and minerality, for a long, tight finish.

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2015 Henschke Croft Chardonnay  
Price: $47.75       Sale $42.02          Case $488

Pale straw with pale gold hues. An attractive bouquet showing pristine citrus blossom, nectarine, custard apple and pear skin, with nuances of clove spice, hazelnut and struck flint. The palate is perfectly poised, focussed and complex with flavours of pear and grapefruit, with underlying flavours of toasted chestnuts from well-integrated French oak. It also presents great depth, layers of creamy texture and a tight, mineral acidity as the wine carries through to a very long, lingering finish.

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2015 Henschke Johann's Garden GSM 2015
Price: $45.00       Sale $39.60          Case $459

A blend of 70% Grenache, 25% Mataro, 5% Shiraz.  Vibrant crimson with garnet hues. Intense and alluring aromas of fresh raspberries, dark plums and cumquat are complemented beautifully by savory nuances of mace, nutmeg, cracked black pepper, anise and Dutch licorice. The palate is pure and concentrated with ripe raspberry and dark plum flavors balanced by hints of chicory, candied orange and black pepper; complex layers of texture, minerality and fine-grained velvety tannins with an exceptionally long finish.

 

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2014 Henschke Henry Seven SGM
Price: $43.25       Sale $38.06          Case $442

Deep ruby with purple hues. Pronounced aromas of ripe raspberry, plum, blackberry, with hints of white flowers and lavender, complemented by savoury nuances of black pepper, bay leaf and charcuterie. The palate displays focused raspberry and dark plum fruits, with lively acidity and beautifully balanced fine, soft tannins providing texture, for a long, structured finish.

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2013 Henschke Keyneton Estate
Price: $56.75       Sale $49.94          Case $579

Deep crimson in colour. An intense nose of ripe mulberry, plum, blue and black berry fruits and anise gives way to underlying floral violet notes and hints of cassis, sage and pepper spice. The beautifully balanced palate shows layers of sweet, concentrated fruit and texture, with fine-grained tannins for a long and elegant finish.

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2014 Henschke Mount Edelstone
Price: $191.50    Sale $168.52       Case $1954

The beautiful and historical name Mount Edelstone is a translation from the German Edelstein meaning gemstone. The dry-grown ungrafted centenarian vines were planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas, who founded South Australia.

 

Menu:

Selection of cheese:  Beemster Gouda, Parmesan Reggiano

Toasted Pecan crusted Goat cheese with raspberry vinaigrette

Sliced Pork Tenderloin on Polenta Cake with Berry coulis

 

This is a seated event at the store and is limited to 14 tasters, the fee for this tasting is $75 + Tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

 

The history of Henschke Winery and family:

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Johann Christian Henschke, born on December 24, 1803, departed from Kutschlau in the province of Brandenburg in the summer of 1841, and after an ill-fated 98-day voyage aboard the Skjold, arrived in South Australia on October 27. His wife Appolonia Wilhelmine, and six-year-old son Johann Friedrich Wilhelm died during the voyage and were buried at sea; nine-month-old daughter Johanne Luise died while they were awaiting departure from Hamburg. Johann Christian’s brother, Johann Martin, and his family also made the journey aboard the Skjold, while their other brother, Johann Georg, and his family followed on the August in 1856.

Upon arrival, with his two surviving children (Johann Gottlieb and Johann August), Johann Christian stayed briefly at Klemzig and Hahndorf, before settling for a time at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, where in 1843 he married Dorothea Elisabeth Schmidt, with whom he was to have eight more children. In 1847, after Johann Christian and many of the other Lobethal founders became naturalised and eligible to purchase land, he and his family” settled at Krondorf village near Bethany in the Barossa Valley, where the house and outbuildings still stand today.

In 1862 he purchased land in the North Rhine district (later renamed Keyneton) of the Barossa Range, so named because it was thought the area was capable of producing good quality wine. Initially travelling by foot from Krondorf to North Rhine, he started to develop his property by adopting the traditional self-sufficient farming methods of his homeland, and with the help of his son Paul Gotthard, planted a small vineyard. A farmer and mason by trade, Johann Christian built a small two-storey cellar into the side of the hill for the first vintages of riesling and shiraz, with the first sales in 1868.

Paul Gotthard Henschke was born in Bethany on August 9, 1847, the third child of Johann Christian’s second marriage. He married Johanne Mathilde Schulz in 1871 and together they had seven children; their fourth-born, Paul Alfred, would become the next custodian of the family property, and sixth-born, Albert Julius, would later have a wine named after him.

Following his father’s death in 1873, Paul Gotthard took over the running of the North Rhine property at Keyneton, which had the previous year been transferred from father to son for the sum of five schillings, the cost of the transfer fee. Paul Gotthard continued the farming and winemaking tradition of his father, and when more vineyards were planted wine production gradually increased. Later, in 1891, he purchased land with a small planting of vines near the Gnadenberg Church, which was to become known as the Hill of Grace vineyard.

Like his father before him Paul Gotthard was actively involved in the local community, and in 1874 he became one of the first constables of the District Council of North Rhine. He was the organist for Gnadenberg Church for many years, and in 1888 he formed the first known brass band in the district, which was called the Henschke Family Brass Band. Instruments were mostly brought from Germany and three of them, a euphonium, a clarinet and a cornet, have been lovingly restored and are still in the family’s possession today.

Paul Alfred Henschke was born on February 26, 1878, and educated at North Rhine Lutheran School. On leaving school he helped tend the family property, and for a time worked as a shearer, somewhere up north. In 1907 he married Johanne Ida Selma Stanitzki, whose grandfather Nicolaus Stanitzki planted the first block of shiraz vines on the Hill of Grace vineyard around 1860. They had eleven children, and it was their youngest child, Cyril, who would follow in his father’s footsteps.

After Paul Gotthard’s death in 1914, Paul Alfred took over the winery, farm and homestead. He extended the original cellars northwards, and had brick and cement fermentation vats and underground storage tanks installed. Until this time farming had been the main pursuit, but as the demand for fortified wine increased, more effort was given to increasing production and he expanded the vineyard acreage. He had also purchased considerable areas of farming land at Moculta, Angaston and Loxton so that his sons could be independent. Fortified wines were the popular choice at the time, but Paul Alfred continued to make dry red and dry white hock, and orders of barrels and stone jars called krugs were left on the steps of the Keyneton general store for customers to collect.

Cyril Alfred Henschke, born in 1924, was Paul Alfred’s youngest son. Even as a child it was evident that with his inquisitive mind and awareness of his surroundings he had the talent to become a winemaker, and on leaving Nuriootpa High School at 15 he worked for a year or two at Hardy’s Siegersdorf Winery to gain winemaking experience. This was at a time when winemaking had taken a back seat to farming due to the Great Depression of the 1930s, but Cyril’s interest in this area was absolute and the training he received help consolidate the finer points of winemaking he’d taught himself at the family winery. He married Doris Elvira Klemm in 1947 and they had three children – Paul, Stephen and Christine.

His father’s wine market had been largely fortifieds, but at home they drank unfortified wine. Cyril believed the region could produce fruit of suitable quality for dry table wines and he was keen to prove this was so. In 1949 with the help of his brother Louis, he added what are now the fermentation cellars, incorporating the old stable area into the winery. In about 1950 when Paul Alfred was into his 70s, Cyril took charge of the winery and began to experiment with the production of fine dry table wines, and began phasing out fortifieds in 1952. Although initially he experienced some difficulty in finding a market for his new wines, history vindicates his decision and acknowledges him as pioneering varietal table wines. He was the first person to make a dry white frontignac, for example, and he made dry semillon and riesling as separate wines when ‘varietals’ didn’t exist. He also experimented with ugni blanc and sercial.

By the mid-1950s Cyril was also recognised within the Australian wine industry as one who had identified that the quality of certain Eden Valley fruit, such as riesling and shiraz, was superior to that of the better known Barossa Valley. This decade of change from fortifieds also saw Cyril become one of the first to produce single-vineyard wines, and bring to the world those much-loved Henschke shiraz wines from Eden Valley – Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone.

Cyril was the first Australian winemaker to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship and in 1970 undertook his study tour through many winemaking regions in Germany, California and South Africa. Another first was being a founding member of the Barons of Barossa, a wine fraternity that promotes the Barossa region.

Fifth-generation Stephen Carl Henschke took over running the winery in 1979. Born in 1950, he was Cyril’s younger son and showed an interest in science and winemaking from an early age.

Stephen completed a Bachelor of Science Degree at Adelaide University in 1973, gained winemaking experience in the Hunter Valley, and in 1975 with his wife Prue, spent two years at the Geisenheim Institute of Viticulture and Wine Technology in West Germany. During their stay in Germany he undertook work experience in two wineries, Winzerverein Oberrotweil in Baden and the Institut für Rebenzüchtung und Rebenveredlung in Geisenheim.

On their return to Australia they enrolled in Wine Science at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, in order to catch up with the changes in the Australian wine industry. During this time Stephen worked with his father at the winery in Keyneton while Prue embarked on a career as a technical research officer at the nearby Roseworthy College.

In the early 1980s, Stephen introduced winemaking techniques learned in Germany and upgraded to more flexible refrigeration in the winery in order to improve the quality of the white wines. He maintained his ancestors’ traditional methods with his red wines, which focused on fruit quality and tannin maturity in the vineyard, submerged cap open fermentation, minimal racking, no fining and minimal filtration. He also began incorporating barrel fermentation as a component of his red fermentation techniques. Because of the poorly seasoned oak at the time he introduced an oak timber purchase program, seasoning it in the Barossa in order to obtain better quality mature oak flavours.

In the early 1980s, Stephen and Prue purchased an apple orchard at Lenswood in the cool-climate Adelaide Hills in order to pioneer viticultural and soil management techniques from Germany. This led to using Vertical Shoot Positioned canopies to improve fruit exposure and the old-vine selection programs in the 100-year-old shiraz vineyards.

In 1988 and 1989 they worked vintages in Burgundy and Bordeaux respectively, in order to research the grass roots level of viticulture and winemaking in those regions. With widened perspectives they have forged their own styles, with much of the success of Henschke wines attributed to the vine age and fruit quality in the vineyards. In 1994/95 the UK International Wine and Spirit Competition named them International Red Winemaker of the Year.

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 grapegrowing and winemaking, spanning six generations, has been an integral part of Australian quality wine history.

 

Johann is a sixth-generation member of the Henschke family, the eldest of Stephen and Prue’s three children. Johann graduated as a winemaker from the University of Adelaide in 2005, then gained extensive experience in his field throughout the winemaking world. His travels have taken him to Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River, Australia (2005), Felton Road in Central Otago, New Zealand (2006), Isole e Olena in Tuscany, Italy (2006), and Arietta in the Napa Valley, USA (2007).

In 2012 Johann completed his Masters in Viticulture and Oenology in Geisenheim in Germany, a year of which was spent studying there, a year in Montpellier in France and six months in Madrid in Spain.