Two weeks is a long time. My return to Jakarta had to be celebrated. We cracked a very special bottle. Last year at the Alexandra Food and Wine Show, Tim and Caroline Miller from the Henke Winery gave a bottle of ‘1997 Shiraz Cabernet’ to us when we all swapped bottles after the show.
I had brought it with me to Jakarta. We opened it and needless to say, it was delicious. Just the right wine for coming home. It’s a 84-16 blend. The wine is made in open fermenters in a mix of traditional and modern technology. Then it matures in American oak puncheons and is cellared for a couple of years before release. Henke wines are made in an old traditional Victorian style not easy to find these days.
The ‘1997 Shiraz Cabernet’ is a full bodied wine with an intense fruit character. One can almost taste that the cropping level is low and the wine is made from old vines.
Henke was the first vineyard and winery established in the Upper Goulburn Wine Region (www.uppergoulburnwine.org.au). Its Shiraz and Cabernet vines were planted at Yarck on the lower slopes of the Black Ranges (at about 230 meter elevation) between 1968 and 1970. The first vintage was made by the founder, Herb Henke, in 1974. Unfortunately, Henke has no webpage, you have to make appointments by phone. It’s worth visiting them. Tim and Caroline Miller are lovely people and produce stunning wines. The countryside at Yarck is also lovely and only about 1 1/2 hours away from Melbourne.
Address:
The Henke Winery
175 Henke’s Lane
Yarck, Victoria 3719
Ph.: 03-57976277
Posted by themanfrommoselriver 
The Man from Mosel River 