Description
2015 WINERY OF THE YEAR
Founders KEITH & ALISON HENTSCHKE researched for years to find a Barossa Valley site that would produce world class single estate wines. They discovered the property that would become Hentley Farm, with the sought-after red-brown soils of the Western Barossa, and remarkable diversity of soil types, aspects and altitudes.
Like many of the sites that the world’s best wines are grown on, it’s a marginal site. Keith’s expertise as an agricultural scientist ensured that the establishment of our vineyard blocks, with plantings of clonal material selected for orientation and aspect, best utilized the great variety of terroir that enable us to produce unique single estate and single block wines.
Hentley Farm’s chief Winemaker ANDREW QUIN has taken a slightly unusual road to winemaking, transitioning from his original field of study – horticulture. For Andrew, winemaking provided an unparalleled opportunity to combine scientific knowledge with his artistic flair, in the pursuit of creating something that others could enjoy….great wine!
In his initial years post-study, Andrew travelled and worked around the Northern hemisphere, starting in California with premium Sonoma producer St Francis winery before heading to the old world where he worked for wine negociant Jacques Lurton in the Languedoc.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADE
2016 – 95 points James Halliday – 92 points Wine Spectator
2014 – 95 points James Halliday – 90+ points Wine Advocate
2013 – 93 points James Halliday
2012 – 95 points James Halliday 90+ points Wine Advocate
2011 – 90 points James Halliday 92 points Wine Spectator
2010 – 96 points James Halliday 90+ points Wine Advocate
Barossa Wine Show 2011: – Trophy for Best Young Dry Red, Shiraz
Winemaker Notes
Batches of wine were carefully selected from Shiraz blocks within our vineyard to create an estate grown wine that displays the treasured characteristics the property naturally produces in Shiraz: saturated colour, fruit intensity and soft, savoury tannins
Vintage
The 2016 calendar year leading up to the 2017 vintage produced the wettest winter for 20 years! This rainfall and associated cooler weather conditions resulted in a delightful slow development across the growing season with flowering and subsequent fruit set 2-3 weeks later than recent vintages. Warm and consistent conditions followed with vines balanced and happy heading towards Christmas. A return to cool weather and rainfall continued the trend of slow development with veraison kicking off 4 weeks later than expected. After one last summer drop of 50mm in early February, we got the weather we were looking for with dry conditions and good ripening throughout harvest. The vintage conditions have created outstanding flavour development and natural
acidity with the resulting wines showing great poise and balance.
VINEYARD
This wine is a blend of 12 blocks from within our vineyards, all with variances in topsoil depth, subsoil type, row orientation, clonal selection and micro-climate. The topsoil is predominantly a red clay loam, and the subsoil varies from shattered limestone to salt & pepper siltstone and bluestone at depth. All vines are grown on their own roots.
TastingNotes
A complex mix of alluring aromatics with no single element taking precedent. Look for specifics such as liquorice stick, ground coffee, green olives and red currant. Palate flavours look more traditional than the nose with dark chocolate and a mix of red fruits providing layers of flavour throughout. Texturally there is great focus through the middle with soft tannins leading to a fruit-driven finish that keeps on giving.