Henschke Henry's Seven 2020 (Barossa & Eden Valley)

This shiraz, grenache, mataro, viognier blend is a tribute to Henry Evans who planted the first vineyard of seven acres at Keyneton in 1853. He quickly developed a reputation for producing the best wines in the southern colony. Following Henry’s death in 1868, his widow Sarah exercised her temperance convictions by closing the winery and uprooting all the wine grapes. This blend highlights the historical introduction of southern French and Spanish varieties to South Australia in those early pioneering days and reflects the history, religion and culture of the Barossa.

The 2020 vintage will be remembered for excellent quality wines from both the entire Barossa region though there were reduced yields caused by poor conditions at flowering and we had an extremely dry winter, spring and summer in 2019/2020. The 2019 winter and spring resulted in the driest start to the growing season ever, in line with 1939 and 1961. November was a challenging month with some frosts and wet and windy conditions during flowering. Significant heatwaves from mid-December to the end of January reduced shoot growth and berry size, however at the end of the month over 40mm of rain fell, alleviating the stress just before veraison, followed by a cool ripening period in February with just three days over 30°C. Vintage was early, beginning in late February and finishing by late March. The fruit ripened in near perfect conditions, resulting in optimal and excellent wine quality (colour, aromatics, flavour and tannin maturity). Bunches were in loose, open and pristine clusters, while the yield remained quite low at about 50% of average. The 2020 wines are intense in colour, exceptionally fragrant, spicy and well-structured.

The 2020 vintage of Henschke Henry's Seven comprises 72% Shiraz, 13% Grenache, 12% Mataro, and 3% Viognier. The Viognier co-fermented with shiraz; grenache and mataro fermented separately. Matured in 5% new and 95% seasoned French hogsheads for 10 months prior to blending and bottling. Winery Notes