Legacy of Mount Edelstone
Crafted by the Henschke family for over 70 years now, Mount Edelstone is arguably the longest consecutively-produced, single-vineyard wine in Australia. Fourth-generation winemaker Cyril Henschke made his first vintage of Mount Edelstone in 1952, from the vineyard of the same name. It lies in Northern Eden Valley, only 3km to the south of another of Henschke’s notable single-vineyards, Hill of Grace. The beautiful and historical name Mount Edelstone is a translation from the German Edelstein, meaning ‘gemstone’, a reference to the small yellow opals once found in the area. The vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas, who founded The South Australian Company and played a significant role in the formation and establishment of South Australia. Unusually for the time, Ronald, who developed a love of red wine during his studies at Oxford, chose to plant the 16 hectare vineyard solely with Shiraz. He sourced the vines from Joseph Gilbert’s nursery, which was believed to have originated from James Busby’s 1831 pre-phylloxera selection. The dry-grown, ungrafted vines were planted on a range of well-drained duplex soils including sandy loam over gravel and bedrock with patches of clay, to sandy loam over clay.
Pioneer of Single-Vineyard Wines
In the early 1950s, Ronald’s son Colin offered Cyril the fruit from his father’s prized vineyard. The first Mount Edelstone Shiraz under the Henschke label was made in the 1952 vintage and quickly established Cyril’s reputation as a pioneer of single-vineyard, single-variety table wines. By the time Cyril purchased the vineyard from the Angas family in 1974, Mount Edelstone was already seriously entrenched as one of Australia’s great Shiraz wines. Mount Edelstone epitomises the incredible aromatic beauty of Shiraz from the higher altitude and cooler climate of Eden Valley. Signature black pepper and sage, perfumed florals, plush red and black fruit and soft tannins—are woven into luminous silkiness by fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke using the traditions and skills of generations. With ideal cellaring Mount Edelstone can be confidently matured for 30+ years.
Winemaking Tradition and Terroir
106-year-old, dry-grown, pre-phylloxera shiraz, grown on the Henschke Mount Edelstone vineyard, located in the Northern Eden Valley. The vines were planted on a range of well-drained duplex soils including sandy loam over gravel and bedrock with patches of clay, to sandy loam over clay. Organic and biodynamic practices include a wheat straw mulch used under the vines to retain soil moisture, build up organic matter and inhibit weed growth, as well as using biodynamic preparations and sprays. The old vines of Shiraz are hand-harvested, then de-stemmed and lightly crushed into the historic, concrete, open-top fermenters, before being ‘punched-down’. After approximately 7–10 days and just prior to reaching dryness, the fermentations are gently pressed to barrel with the primary fermentation finishing in 77% French and 23% American oak (27% new and 73% seasoned) hogshead barrels. The wine matures for 20 months before assemblage and bottling, with the wine remaining in bottle for three years before release.
