Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with baked trout with fennel.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Slightly closed, the tightly wound nose of Henschke's 2015 Julius Riesling gives up notes of lemon juice, peach blossoms, lime leaves and dill seed. Taut, youthful, crisp and fresh, this bone dry Riesling has a racy, minerally finish. This will need at least five more years of aging.
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Wine Enthusiast
Cellar Selection 0 Classic Eden Valley aromas of lemon-lime sherbet and wet stone mark the nose of this medium-bodied wine. That wet stone note carries through on the palate to yield a slightly chalky or crushed-stone texture, while the citrus fruits race through the long finish. Drink 2020–2030.
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Decanter
From a fine, balanced vintage, this Riesling comes from vineyards that go back to the 1950s. It shows an appealing fresh, subtle floral fragrance with enticing lime zesty notes, a refreshing spritz on the tongue, and a juicy lemon and lime fruitiness balanced by a bone dry finish. Ageing for a year or two will bring extra complexity.
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Wine & Spirits
Flinty and youthfully compact, this is a tangy riesling with a spritz of lime zest flavor driving the perfumed scent of lime blossoms. As one taster said, “It’s totally clean,” a refreshing aspect that will not diminish as the wine gains complexity with age. Julius approaches its best drinking time after seven or eight years in the bottle.
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.