Winery & Vintage Info
Keyneton Euphonium is a beautiful composition of shiraz from up to 50-year-old vines growing in the Eden and Barossa Valleys, blended with cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc from selected vineyards in both regions. The Barossa hills village of Keyneton, pioneered by pastoralist Joseph Keynes in 1842, was a musical and cultural focus for the early settlers, and home to the Henschke Family Brass Band and Henschke winery.
The Henschke Family Band was founded in 1888 by Paul Gotthard Henschke and later led by third-generation Paul Alfred Henschke, featuring wonderful wind instruments such as a B flat euphonium, cornet and E flat clarinet. The B flat euphonium, a large brass wind instrument, was produced by the famous Zimmermann factory in Leipzig, Germany, in the late 19th century. The instruments were imported by musical entrepreneur, Carl Engel of Adelaide in the late 1800s and have been lovingly restored to remain in the care of the Henschke family.
The 2016 vintage began with well below-average winter rainfall, followed by a warm and dry spring, which enhanced flowering and set to give average to above-average yield potential. Low disease pressure was maintained by one of the hottest Decembers on record, though temperatures cooled down in the New Year and rainfall around veraison in late January brought relief to the dry-grown, old-vine Eden Valley vineyards. This was followed by further rainfall in early March which eased the stress on all varieties. The fruit matured with an earlier harvest, as predicted due to an early Easter. Open, light and airy vine canopies allowed for good flavour, sugar and colour and mature tannins to develop at harvest, which was overall characterised by average yields but very high quality.
The 2016 Euphonium is a blend of 57% Shiraz, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. The fruit was harvested between February 26th & the 14th of April. Matured in 13% new and 87% seasoned French (71%) and American (29%) oak hogsheads for 18 months, prior to blending and bottling. Winery Notes
<h3>Reviews</h3>
"A lovely, fuller figured release with lush, ripe fruit characters, boysenberry jam whiffs and flavours, a bit of choc-cherry character, faintest nougat and coconut, cinnamon going on mid palate and through the close. Lots of spice, is another thing. It’s flows nicely, soft, thick, rich, a bit boozey-breathy but long, finishing with a titter of lemony acidity but mostly sweet fruit. Very lush and rounded. Big appeal for those seeking fuller, warming expressions in good balance."
92 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, March 2021
"The bouquet does indeed bellow from the glass like that a euphonium. It has a swag of red, black and purple fruits all in tune, something very different for drinking now."
95 Points - James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion, August, 1 2020
