Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 88

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

A USTRALIAXXXXXXXX
S OUTH A USTRALIA

Henschke

A USTRALIAXXXXXXXX
S OUTH A USTRALIA

Ochota Barrels
Founded: 1868
Founded: XXXX
Owner/winemaker:
Stephen Henschke
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Viticulturist:
Prue Henschke
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Acres
owned:
170
Acres owned:
XXX
Annual
production:
Cases produced:
20,000
to 50,000 XXXXXX
cases
100%
Estate grown: 54%
Xxxxx Xxxxx,USA,
Xxxxx,
XX CA
Importer: Negociants
Napa,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Website: henschke.com.au

Stephen
XxxxxxxHenschke
Xxxxxx

Xxxxxxx
Taras Ochota
Xxxxxx

Six generations of Henschkes have tended vines in the hills of the Eden Valley,
where their legendary shiraz and rieslings have never been better.
Deep Roots: In 1860 Nicolaus Stanitzki, a Silesian immigrant, planted
shiraz across from the Hill of Grace church at Gnadenberg, near
Keyneton in South Australia's Eden Valley. Nearly a hundred years
later, those vines provided the fruit for Cyril Henschke's first Hill of
Grace Shiraz in 1958, and the fame of this 10-acre vineyard began to
grow. Under Stephen and Prue Henschke's stewardship, the cult for
Hill of Grace has driven prices into the realm of Burgundies from
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Grandfather Vines: Fifth-generation Stephen and his young bride,
Prue, spent two years at the Geisenheim Institute in Germany in the
mid-1970s. When she began a massale selection project in their vineyards in 1986, she enlisted another Geisenheim graduate, Uschi Linssen, to help her. Today, they sustain generations of vines with organic
farming and biodynamic practices, while Stephen sustains the legend
of Hill of Grace with traditional, low-tech winemaking (open-top fermenters, basket presses). Their 2010 contrasts the umami depths of
old-vine fruit with vibrant red berry flavors, layering complexities that will build for decades as the wine ages. For
a more affordable taste of Henschke style, there's Henry's
Seven, a cofermentation of shiraz and viognier, blended
with grenache and mataro. It's named for Henry Evans,
who planted the first vines in the Henschke's hometown
of Keyneton in 1853. The 2014 has the tarry red berry
and peppercorn cut of a classic Barossa red, even as it
comes across light and airy instead of heavy and bold.
German Ties: The Henschke's affiliation with Geisenheim continues, as their son, Johann, completed his
masters in viticulture and oenology there in 2012.
So it makes sense that their Eden Valley riesling-
Julius-would also be legendary in Australia. The
2015 is clean, tangy and refreshing, its youthful scent
of lime blossoms waiting to develop into richer limemarmalade depths as it ages. -J.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

Founded: 2008
Founded: XXXX
Winemaker/viticulturist:
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Taras Ochota
XXXXXXXXXTaras
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Owners:
and Amber Ochota
XXX one planted
Acres owned: 10;
Cases produced:
XXXXXX
Annual
production:
3,000 cases
Estate grown: 100%
None
XxxxxStreet
Xxxxx,Imports,
Xxxxx, XX
Importer: Vine
Website:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Mount
Laurel,
NJ
Website: ochotabarrels.com

Taras Ochota searches out exceptional old-vine sites in South Australia, turning out some of the freshest and most exciting Aussie grenache and syrah we
tasted this year.
Surfing & Single Vineyards: It was on a surfing trip in Mexico that Taras
Ochota and his wife, Amber, hatched their plan: He'd stop flying
around the world as a winemaker-consultant focused on Italy, and
she'd stop working at other people's wine labs. Instead, they'd concentrate on old-vine parcels near their home in the Adelaide Hills.
Eight years later, in 2008, they launched Ochota Barrels, bottling
wine from old-vine sites in McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley.
Fugazi: A former bass player for the punk band Kranktus, Ochota
named one of his most prized vineyards after a favorite punk band.
He'd noticed the vines on the way to Triggs Point to go surfing. "They
looked amazing," he says of the 70-year-old grenache vines. "They
were absolutely healthy and bright green even after a heat wave." His
2014, made with 70 percent whole clusters and no added yeast, is one
of our 100 Best Wines of 2016: a joyous grenache, bright and floral
with scents of roses and rosemary, the brisk strawberry fruit leaving a
roar of tannins in its wake.
Shellac: Ochota's top-scoring syrah this year, the 2015
Shellac Vineyard, is also named for a punk band. A
site he discovered while working for Two Hands, it's
located near the vineyards of Barossa wineries Torbreck
and Greenock Creek. He picks his fruit earlier than his
neighbors, ferments it after a week of cold soak with 30
percent whole bunches and without added yeast, leaving it on the skins for two and a half months, then
basket presses it into French oak (20 percent new).
The result in 2015 is a remarkably elegant syrah even
at this young stage, its tarry Barossa scents quickly
subsumed by brisk, fresh fruit flavor. If this is what
he can do with syrah, we're curious to see what he'll
do with the acre of gamay he recently planted on his
own land in the Adelaide Hills. Stay tuned. -C.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

XX '10
94
'XX Eden
Xxxxxxxx
Valley
Xxxxxxx
Hill of Grace
Xxxxx $813
$XX (XX/XX)
(2/16)

XX '14
95
'XX McLaren
XxxxxxxxVale
Xxxxxxx
The Fugazi
Xxxxx $XX
Vineyard
(XX/XX)
Grenache $80 (2/16)

XX '14
92
'XX Barossa
XxxxxxxxHenry's
XxxxxxxSeven
Xxxxx$46
$XX(2/16)
(XX/XX)

XX '15
93
'XX Marananga
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx
The Shellac
XxxxxVineyard
$XX (XX/XX)
Syrah $75 (10/16)

XX '15
91
'XX Eden
Xxxxxxxx
Valley
Xxxxxxx
Julius Riesling
Xxxxx $XX
$43
(XX/XX)
(2/16)

XX '14
92
'XX Marananga
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx
The Shellac
XxxxxVineyard
$XX (XX/XX)
Syrah $80 (2/16)

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

http://henschke.com.au http://www.ochotabarrels.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016