Henschke Mount Edelstone 2015

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.

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

Wine Production

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

Tasting Notes

Very deep crimson in colour. Definitive Mount Edelstone shiraz aromas of sage and crushed black pepper lead to brightly spiced plum, blue and black cherry characters, enveloped by crushed flowering herbs with cedar nuances. Vibrant, wild forest berries are layered beautifully into a rich and elegantly textured palate with fine velvety tannins and lingering notes of black pepper and sage for an extremely long finish.

Food Pairing

Beef and Guiness Pie 

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

Average Vine Age:

102 years

First vintage of this wine:

1952

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

Analytical Data

Alcohol:

14.5 %

pH level:

3.5

Acidity:

6.3 g/L