Henschke Julius Riesling, Eden Valley

When Cyril Henschke bottled Australia's first single-vineyard wines in the 1950s, he was working against a national culture of blended and fortified production — a transgression that now defines the country's fine-wine identity. The Julius Riesling inherits that same conviction: a 100% Riesling from Henschke's Eden Valley Vineyard on Cranes Range Road, where vines planted from 1968 onward sit at approximately 500 metres elevation on sandy loam over sandstone and schist. That shallow, free-draining substrate forces roots deep, restricts vigour, and concentrates flavour while the altitude delivers the diurnal temperature swings that preserve natural acidity — the structural backbone Riesling demands. All fruit is hand-harvested from organically and biodynamically farmed vines, consistent with Prue Henschke's four-decade programme of soil health and vine balance across the estate. The wine is bottled under Stelvin screwcap, the closure of choice for preserving reductive freshness and tracking primary citrus and floral aromatics through a long cellaring arc. What distinguishes Julius within the Eden Valley Riesling field is the age of the oldest blocks — vines from 1968 now exceeding 55 years — delivering a depth of extract and textural weight that younger-vine examples rarely achieve. The 2022 vintage, drawn from a season reviewed favourably by critics visiting the 2022 single-vineyard releases, offers both immediate vibrancy and the structural architecture for medium-term development.