Hentley Farm Riesling 2016
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A solid white with stone, green apple and pear character. Full body, vivid and intense. Mineral, stone and slate undertones. Beautiful fruit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fresh and zesty, Hentley Farm's 2016 Riesling bursts with lemon-lime aromas, flower-shop greenery and hints of pear and peach. Light-bodied, brisk and refreshing, it's the perfect antidote to a steamy tropical summer. It pairs wonderfully with raw oysters and will blossom into something very different in 5-10 years' time.
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Wine Enthusiast
Apples, wet stone and a little honey lead into a refreshing palate, with plenty of acidity and a hint of richness to tip the scales into balance. A pleasing apple finish makes you want to keep going back for more.
Set on the red-brown soils of the western Barossa Valley, Hentley Farm founders Keith and Alison Hentschke acquired the 150-acre vineyard and mixed farming property in the 1990s. Following extensive research to find out where the best red wine grapes in the Barossa Valley were being produced, their studies led them towards the rich red soils of the Seppeltsfield area. Keith used an old soil map from the 1950s to strategically locate the best parcels of land and after a number of years acquired Hentley Farm.
With a focus on perfecting the vineyards, the first wines weren’t released from the property until 2002. The estate was extended with the purchase of the neighboring high-quality, Clos Otto block in 2004.
The vineyards contain the following varietals: Shiraz (70%), Grenache (17%), Cabernet Sauvignon (10%), Zinfandel (2%), and a small parcel of Viognier (1%). Blocks were carefully selected for orientation and aspect with different clonal material used according to suitability.
The depth and complexity of our wines arises from the great variety of terroirs at Hentley Farm, created by the diversity within the 150-acre estate’s east and west facing slopes and altitude variances. Subsoils of tightly structured friable clay offer huge water holding potential, offering respite for the vines in times of low rainfall.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.