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.
A later start to picking and a mild period of ripening finished with the last grapes being picked in mid-May. A wet 2016 winter gave us a good foundation for our predominantly dry-grown vines on their own roots, and a cool, wet and fiercely windy spring followed, with a slightly higher spring rainfall than the Barossa Valley, which delayed flowering, though conditions during set meant that yields were at average levels. A mild summer with regular rainfall events followed, which allowed the grapes to reach full physiological maturity. The significant rainfall events largely missed our area and therefore we harvested the majority of our grapes in healthy condition. As always, careful hand picking in the vineyard and sorting of grapes as they were processed made sure that quality was not compromised.
The 2017 Euphonium is a blend of 62% Shiraz, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The fruit was harvested between March 22nd & the 12th of May. Matured in 19% new and 81% seasoned French (85%) and American (15%) oak hogsheads for 18 months, prior to blending and bottling. Winery Notes
