Barossa Drops: Take a virtual tour of Hentley Farm
As the Barossa Valley reopens, our wine columnist recalls his pre-lockdown amble through Hentley Farm.
My last winery trip before lockdown was also a first, of sorts. It was my first trip to the Barossa Valley and I’ve been wistfully thinking of it since. My peers were surprised:
‘You write about wine and you’ve never been to the Barossa Valley? That’s like a film buff never have seeing The Shawshank Redemption!’
‘The Shaw + Smith what?’ I said.
Yes, I know, I was tardy. But now I’ve had a taste this will not be my last visit. Driving through the much-loved region for the first time was like star spotting in Hollywood – I got a little tinge of pleasure whenever a saw a famous winery. I almost even got a Signature from Yalumba.
I travelled as a guest to Hentley Farm in Seppeltsfield to taste the newly released 2017 Clos Otto shiraz. Since it’s first vintage in 2005, Clos Otto has fast become one of our most iconic wines. In 2018 it made the Langton’s Classification: a guide to the most reputable and sought-after Australian bottles.
We begin with the peculiar tale of Otto Kasper, who came out to Australia in the early 1990s from Germany and planted vines on a small block in Seppeltsfield, just above Greenock Creek. Nothing odd about that, plenty of overseas winemakers come to Australia to try their hand at our particular style of shiraz.
Thing is, Otto wasn’t a winemaker; he wasn’t even a viticulturist. And he was in his sixties. I wish I could tell you more about him but details are scarce. He was a retired border guard in his own country who, for whatever enigmatic reason, decided to move across the world to grow grapes. Some might call him bonkers. Maybe he was. But with such little experience, finding and nurturing a site that turned out to produce such high-caliber fruit took an uncommon instinct and drive.
Keith Hentschke and wife Alison (not to be confused with that other famous South Australian winemaking family – they don’t use a ‘t’)* had been neighbours of Otto since 1997 when they purchased the adjacent Hentley Farm and planted close to 40 hectares of vines. Keith, an agricultural scientist and confessed soil nerd, had used maps from the 1950s to scout the best place to set up. He and Otto were clearly on the same wavelength. It’s a beautiful site. The cellar door and tasting room reside in a homestead from the 1840s and the glass walled restaurant (a destination in it’s own right) looks out onto Greenock and the vines. Wouldn’t be a bad destination once restrictions are eased and the farm is reopened.
When Otto took off back to Germany in 2004 he sold his little block to the Hentschkes. The deal went down with much miming and gesticulation as Otto still spoke very little English. Rather than incorporate the fruit from the site into one of their existing wines they elected to produce a single block wine.
Soil and aspect are crucial to the expression. The site is red loam over red plastic clay and the gentle slope faces east towards the creek and absorbs the best of the day’s sunlight without saturation.
The fruit is basket-pressed for grace of tannin, slow-fermented and maturated for 22 months. The oak is all French with 65% of it new and the remainder second usage.
The profoundly talented Andrew Quin presides over all winemaking at Hentley Farm. Under him the strange legend of the remarkable Otto Kasper lives on.
Clos Otto Shiraz 2017, Barossa Valley ($210)
Hentley Farm does this neat little thing on their official tasting notes. Each wine’s character is matched to an animal, a vehicle and an instrument – Clos Otto’s are Wedge-Tailed Eagle, Ferrari Roma and Grand Piano.
The nose is looking lusciously dark-fruited, with a subtle pinging of blueberries and dried purple flowers. There’s chocolate, tobacco and mix of all those lovely spices you associate
with baking pastries: nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla essence and brown sugar.
Take a sip. The concentration and power are to be expected – this is premium Barossa fruit after all. What’s remarkable is the pace of the wine. It flows like a creek’s soft current and the fine tannins layer steadily across the palate as the profile builds in intensity and complexity.
Highlights of a tart, red-berried juiciness mingled with that suave richness and dry spice lingers for minutes. The wine drinks well now, very well, although give it a decade or so and greatness is assured.
*Quarantine activity: Come up with a tongue twister using the words Hentschke, Henschke, Hentley and Hill of Grace