Henschke

Winery in South Australia

34°31′15″S 139°09′03″E / 34.520832°S 139.150833°E / -34.520832; 139.150833Wine regionEden ValleyFounded1868Key peopleJohann Christian Henschke,
Cyril Alfred Henschke,
Stephen Henschke (winemaker)Cases/yr40,000^[1]Known forHill of GraceVarietalsSemillon, Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, ShirazWebsitewww.henschke.com.au

Henschke is a family-owned, 156-year-old Australian winery, located in Keyneton, South Australia in the Eden Valley wine region. It produces the 'Hill of Grace', one of Australia's "cult wines", and was considered Australia's second best wine by James Halliday in 2009.^[2]

History

Johann Christian Henschke, born on 24 December 1803, was from Silesia, and fled his homeland for Australia in 1841. In 1862 he purchased land in what now is called Keyneton. In 1868 he produced the first vintage of about 300 gallons of wine. In 1891 his son Paul Gotthard Henschke bought some land near the Gnadenberg Church; that land is now known as 'the Hill of Grace vineyard'. In the 1950s, Henschke started focusing on table wine instead of fortified wine that was more common in Australia at that time. In 1979 Stephen and Prue Henschke took over the running of the winery after Stephen's father Cyril died.^[3]

In 2009, Henschke was asked to join Australian wine alliance, Australia's First Families of Wine.^[4]

Wines

Henschke is best known for 'Hill of Grace', a Shiraz based wine first produced in the 1958 vintage,^[5] which was classified as "Exceptional", the highest ranking in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine, in 2005.^[6] Hill of Grace is produced from vines planted in the 1860s.^[7]^[8] Henscke also produces a wide range of other wines; many are from shiraz grapes, but there are also wines and blends from cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot, grenache, mourvèdre, cabernet franc, semillon, chardonnay, riesling, gewürztraminer, viognier, pinot gris and muscat.

External links

Henschke web site

References

^ WinePros: Henschke Archived 3 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, winepros.com.au, accessed 31 August 2010.
^ Halliday, James. Australian Wine Companion. Hardie Grant Books. p. 294. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
^ Henschke - About Us
^ "The Heart & Soul of Australian wine to launch in Sydney on Monday 31 August". Winetitles, Australia's wine industry portal. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
^ The Courier Mail - Fifty years of quality
^ "Langton's Classification". Langton's. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
^ Short, gnarly, full of grace, The Age, 16 March 2009.
^ Wine mother of all reds, Herald Sun