Winery & Vintage Info
Over 165 years ago Johann Christian Henschke came from Silesia to settle and farm in the Eden Valley region. By the time third-generation Paul Alfred Henschke took over the reins in 1914, the famous Hill of Grace vines were more than 50 years old. They were planted around the 1860s by an ancestor, Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just north-west of the winery. The red-brown earth grading to deep silty loam has excellent moisture-holding capacity for these dry-grown vines, which sit at an altitude of 400m, with an average rainfall of 520mm. Hill of Grace is a unique, delineated, historic single vineyard that lies opposite a beautiful old Lutheran church which is named after a picturesque region in Silesia called Gnadenberg, meaning Hill of Grace. Cyril Henschke made the first single-vineyard shiraz wine from this vineyard in 1958 from handpicked grapes vinified in traditional open-top fermenters.
1992 was the wettest year since 1851 with the wettest December recorded in 26 years making the start of the 1993 vintage difficult. Spring weather was unpredictable and not great for flower and berry set resulting in low yields. Constant rain and humidity was a problem, which was compounded by a severe hailstorm in December, further reducing yields. A mild, dry summer pushed harvest back almost a month. April’s warm, dry weather conditions caused unexpected rapid ripening with good sugar and acid balance.
100% shiraz grapes from pre-phylloxera material brought from Europe by the early settlers in the mid-1800s and grown on the Hill of Grace vineyard in the Eden Valley.
