Henty Estate Riesling 2007

Henty Estate is a small family owned vineyard located 6 kilometres north of Hamilton in the Henty wine region of Victoria. The wines are made using traditional methods, including open fermenting, basket pressing and maturation in quality French oak. Yields are limited to 3–4 tonnes per hectare.

"Opens up exotic and aromatic with spicy citrus, peach and passionfruit - just so lively and attractive. On the palate it has good weight and an excellent lightly grippy texture with plenty of crisp clean acidity and intense flavours of spice, lime, orange, passionfruit and a musky perfume wafting a  bout. Finishes long and dry. A great wine of style and character."   Gary Walsh

Expert reviews

"I do like a bit of Western Victorian riesling and although I don't usually 'drink' many samples (that way alcoholism or madness lies). I did knock this one off over a couple of days.. and I was very sorry when the bottle was empty. It's a top wine.

Opens up exotic and aromatic with spicy citrus, peach and passionfruit - just so lively and attractive. On the palate it has good weight and an excellent lightly grippy texture with plenty of crisp clean acidity and intense flavours of spice, lime, orange, passionfruit and a musky perfume wafting about. Finishes long and dry. On the second day of tasting the aromatics settled down and the dominant flavours were of lime and spice. A great wine of style and character. Drink: 2008 - 2016."   Gary Walsh, The Wine Front - 94 points

"A sensational riesling from this small producer in Henty. Wonderfully intense and spotlessly clean, the lime and citrus fruit is rich and piercing and  lingers long on a really refreshing palate that is awash with crisp, clean acidity. Wonderful drinking now, but build for the long haul."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines

About the winery

The 8 hectare vineyard is located 6 kilometres North of Hamilton in the Henty wine region of Victoria. The wines are grown, made and bottled entirely on the estate. The vineyard is dry grown on older volcanic soils and the wines are made using traditional methods, including open fermenting, basket pressing and maturation in quality French oak. Yields are limited to 3–4 tonnes per hectare.

Henty Estate was established in 1991 by Peter and Gleyns Dixon who were strong in their conviction that great wines are made in the vineyard. They began by planting 4.5ha of shiraz, 1ha each of cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, and 0.5ha of riesling. They established the winery in 2003 and in their words "We avoided the temptation to make wine until the vineyard was mature."

The climate is characterised by cold, wet winters and warm, dry summers followed by a long cool autumn ripening period. Grapes ripen later here than in many other wine regions, resulting in superb intense varietal flavours.

Michael Hilsdon and Matilda McGoon purchased Henty Estate from the Dixon's in 2018. They hold true to the same ideals of no compromise on quality in the vineyard and the winemaking.