Henschke End of Vintage 2012

Henschke End of Vintage 2012

With the long days of vintage behind us, but still fresh in our minds, it is now time to reflect on the 2012 vintage, which I consider to be in the top five vintages of my 35 years of winemaking.

In the lead-up to vintage, the La Niña pattern weakened, resulting in a drier, colder winter with below average rainfall, which followed through to spring with mild conditions and an early budburst. Flowering and fruit set were affected by wet, drizzly weather in Eden Valley and persistent morning fogs in the Adelaide Hills, which led to only average yields.  The summer was also surprisingly mild with below average temperatures and only two short heat events to speak of. Some cooler weather, followed by an Indian summer, provided a slow ripening period and allowed for a long window of picking, which produced intense fruit flavours, high colour figures, good acidity and mature tannins in our Eden Valley fruit. The slow ripening period in the Adelaide Hills encouraged intense fruit flavours, high natural acidity and good balance in the fruit. 

In Eden Valley the standout varieties were riesling, showing delightful aromatics, purity, intensity, excellent acidity and length of flavour, and shiraz, showing great purity, colour intensity and strikingly mature tannins. In the Adelaide Hills the standout varieties were chardonnay, showing exquisite fruit flavours, length and acidity, and pinot noir, showing excellent spice, colour intensity and mature, velvety tannins.