Henschke Mount Edelstone

Henschke Mount Edelstone bottle image

Wine Description

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 over 100 year-old drygrown ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952, it became recognised as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines.

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Acclaim
"Opaque ruby. Dark berry preserves, fruitcake, pipe tobacco candied flowers and a hint of vanilla on the deeply perfumed nose. Stains the palate with sappy black and blue fruit, mocha, licorice and rose pastille flavors and exotic spice and mineral nuances add energetic lift. Fleshy and deep but lively as well, with an impressively long, gently tannic finish that shows superb focus and dark fruit-driven persistence.”
— Vinous, Dec 2021
“The Mount Edelstone vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Fife, a descendant of George Angus Fife, a founder of South Australia. Cyril Henschke made the family’s first wine from the property as a single-vineyard shiraz in 1952. The vines, now tended by Stephen and Prue Henschke, are dry farmed on their own roots in deep red-brown clay-loam and clay. Those shiraz vines, now more than 100 years old, provided an earthy 2015 with a balsamic note to its ripe perfume of raspberries and cherries, lasting on bittersweet cherry-pit tannins. The fruit is youthfully pungent, with the kind of purity – or lack of excess – that bodes well for a long arc of development in the cellar.”
— Wine & Spirits, Feb 2021
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Vineyard & Production Info
Vineyard name
Mount Edelstone Vineyard
Soil composition
Deep sandy loam over gravely medium-red clay, overlying laminated siltstone
Elevation:
1,312 feet
Year vineyard planted:
1912
First vintage of this wine:
1952
Average Vine Age:
102 years
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Winemaking & Aging
Varietal composition:
100% Shiraz
Fermentation container:
Traditional open-top concrete fermentation tanks
Malolactic fermentation:
Full
Fining agent:
Vegan
Type of aging container:
Hogsheads
Type of oak:
American and French
Length of aging before bottling:
18 months
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.5
Acidity:
6.3 g/L
Alcohol:
14.5 %
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Wine Production

Matured in 78% French and 22% American (22% new, 78% seasoned) hogsheads for 18 months prior to blending and bottling.

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About the Vineyard

A traditionally wet winter, mild spring and excellent fruit set provided a great start to the 2015 vintage after four vintages with below average yields. Spring was dry and led into a very mild, dry summer with no disease, resulting in fruit with higher natural acidity and incredible flavour and colour concentration. A dry, warm and windy start to January, however, resulted in one of the worst bushfires in the Adelaide Hills in living memory, though well away from our Lenswood vineyards. By the end of the first week, relief came with 60-75mm of rain and a record-breaking coolest January in 11 years. With the onset of veraison at the end of January, the rain was perfectly timed for the old dry-grown vineyards, and the mild weather that followed from February through to April provided for a fairytale vintage