Winery & Vintage Info
100% 106-year-old single-vineyard shiraz grown on the Henschke Mount Edelstone Vineyard in the Eden Valley wine region, managed with organic and biodynamic practices.
Harvested between 21st of March and the 14th of April. Matured in 27% new and 73% seasoned (77% French, 23% American) oak hogsheads for 20 months prior to blending and bottling.
A moderately wet winter combined with average spring conditions meant that the vines grew well in the mild weather. Ideal flowering conditions in late spring/early summer led to the potential for near-average yields. Late December became warm and dry, ensuring healthy canopies with low disease pressure. The summer months of January and February were typically warm and dry, characterised by above-average overnight temperatures. The old-vine vineyards coped well with the warm nights, their deep roots able to withstand the warming and drying effect on the topsoil, maturing the balanced crops as autumn approached. March and April provided light and warmth to the Eden Valley which led to full and balanced maturity being achieved across all grape varieties. With warm sunny days and cool nights, the dry autumn guaranteed that pristinely healthy grapes arrived in the fermenters. All in all, the 2018 vintage will be considered a standout of the decade. Shiraz was certainly one of the highlights of the season, fittingly so in the year we celebrated our 150th anniversary of family winemaking.
The beautiful and historic name Mount Edelstone is a translation from the German Edelstein meaning ‘gemstone’, a reference to the small yellow opals once found in the area. The Mount Edelstone Vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who founded The South Australian Company and played a significant role in the formation and establishment of South Australia. Unusual for its time, the vineyard was planted solely to shiraz. The ancient 500-million-year-old geology in the vineyard has given rise to soils that are deep red-brown clay-loam to clay, resulting in low yields from the dry-grown, ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 by fourth-generation Cyril Henschke. By the time Cyril purchased the vineyard from Colin Angas in 1974, Mount Edelstone was already well entrenched as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines. Crafted by the Henschke family for over 65 years now, Mount Edelstone is arguably the longest consecutively-produced, single-vineyard wine in Australia.
