After fire devastation, Henschke unveils sensational new shirazes

I’m in South Australia to taste the new vintages of Henschke’s top single-vineyard shirazes, including the jewel in the crown, Hill of Grace. But on the way to the tasting at the winery in Eden Valley, I visit the family’s vineyard at Lenswood, in the Adelaide Hills.

About 10am on December 20, 2019, the catastrophic Cudlee Creek bushfire descended on this property. It burnt hectare after hectare of vines, strainer posts and irrigation wires before engulfing the machinery sheds and huge old pine trees at the top of the hill.

“Helicopter pilots told us afterwards it was one of the hottest spots they saw from the infrared cameras,” says vineyard manager Craig Markby. “The concrete floor in the shed just exploded. We knew what equipment was in there, and we couldn’t even recognise most of it. It was insane.”

Markby was in Adelaide that morning, recovering from chemotherapy, getting updates over the phone. The vineyard crew had left an hour before the fire hit. No one was hurt, but 95 per cent of the 32 hectares of vines were burnt. Markby lost his home.

Over the past two years, Markby, viticulturist Prue Henschke and the vineyard team have worked hard to revive the site. Removing melted irrigation, pulling out thousands of vines, retraining thousands more that had miraculously survived. The place is transformed. This year, they’ve even managed to harvest tiny crops of chardonnay, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc.

“The winemakers are probably a little bit ticked off because they have to fuss around with such a small quantity of fruit,” smiles Markby. “But we feel good that we’ve got to this point, for the staffers who’ve stuck with us through thick and thin.

“It puts a psychological bent on the whole thing. You know: we’re moving forward, we can see things are getting back on track again.”

I get to the winery in Eden Valley as another load of grapes arrives to be crushed. Winemaker Stephen Henschke tells me the crops are also low this vintage in some of his top vineyards because a huge hailstorm passed through on October 28 last year.

“That day will be remembered by our family,” he says. “At four o’clock in the morning our grandson, Otto, was born. And at 10 o’clock the hail came through. At Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone we had hailstones the size of ping-pong balls. Unbelievable. I’ve never seen hail that big.”