The Auswine Forum

Found a heap of old wine in my late fathers cellar,
Just looking for some advice on whether to drink them or not.

And G'day to all.

Yes, drink them. And g'day to you too!

(Um, perhaps a bit more info might help...)

This is the list- Henschke
Hermitage-69,70 & 71
HOG- 68,70,73& 77

Most of these have comprimised corks and may be no good,
but come with original brochures and reciepts--eg-1972,Hill of Grace--$1.50 per bottle !!!!

Also some I have never heard of--also with 60's / 70's brochures and price lists

Hamilton Claret-72 & Shiraz-70
Quelltaler Shiraz-80
Mildura Coonawarra Hermitage 78
Reynella Burgandy-71
Hardy Cab Shiraz-80
Yalumba Claret-65

Vindara Wines-brochure and price list only


I can post pics of the paperwork if there is any interest.

Probably ditch or drink the wine.

Drink them if you want to indulge on them now. keep it in the cellar if there still is something better that will come out of its flavor when it's aged even more longer.

jeanmaddocks wrote:Drink them if you want to indulge on them now. keep it in the cellar if there still is something better that will come out of its flavor when it's aged even more longer.

I think they're pretty much good to go.

blabber wrote:This is the list- Henschke
Hermitage-69,70 & 71
HOG- 68,70,73& 77

Most of these have comprimised corks and may be no good,
but come with original brochures and reciepts--eg-1972,Hill of Grace--$1.50 per bottle !!!!

Also some I have never heard of--also with 60's / 70's brochures and price lists

Hamilton Claret-72 & Shiraz-70
Quelltaler Shiraz-80
Mildura Coonawarra Hermitage 78
Reynella Burgandy-71
Hardy Cab Shiraz-80
Yalumba Claret-65

Vindara Wines-brochure and price list only


I can post pics of the paperwork if there is any interest.

Probably ditch or drink the wine.

First the bad news - I was looking at buying at auction old Henschke's of the seventies at one time, and was warned off by someone in the know. James Halliday wrote an article about possibly the biggest vertical of HOG in 2002, during which Stephen Henschke described the decade between 1969-1978 as 'The abuse of knowledge' - in a quest to make a more technically 'correct' wine, the pressings which had sustained the wines in previous vintages were excluded, and the wines were fined/filtrated to excessive levels. Almost inevitably theses wines usually haven't aged well, regardless of storage - looking back over those old vertical notes, your best chances would be the 1968, 1973 and 1977, but even ten and a bit years ago they read like they were right at the end of their tether. If you open these babies don't expect much - that said, I sincerely hope you get a pleasant surprise.

Now the better news. The 1971 Reynella Burgundy could be an absolute belter in the prime of its life - I had a stunning half bottle of the 1966 a couple of years ago, and this is another top vintage.

I'd have a rough guess the rest of the wines were made for early consumption, so again don't expect much and you may end up with a nice surprise. Yalumba didn't make a Signature in 1965, so there's a good chance the fruit wound up in the (Galway?) Claret which Len Evans described as a nice wine, but not a keeper. Likewise he described the Quelltaler Shiraz, Hamilton (Ewell?) Claret & Shiraz, and Mildara Coonawarra Hermitage as early drinkers.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Cheers,
Ian

If you were to sell just one of your collection, the 1973 HOG would make a very nice 40th birthday present

The Hill of Grace up to about 1978 were made by Stephen's father. After that Stephen and Prue took over and made improvements both in the vineyard and cellar so that might explain the divide.

On a completely unrelated, but somewhat topical note given what is happening in South Africa, old man Henschke was shot by his wife who apparently thought he was a burglar.

Cheers.......................Mahmoud.