Cyril Henschke (1924-1979), winemaker, was a member of a well-established Barossa winemaking family. Credited as the man responsible for pioneering varietal table wines in Australia, he was the first person to make a dry white frontignac, and made dry semillon and riesling as separate wines when 'varietals' did not exist. In 1952 he began phasing out fortifieds, though initially he experienced some difficulty in finding a market. By the mid 1950s he was acknowledged as a pre-eminent pioneer of the Australian table wine industry. Henschke was one of the first to produce single vineyard wines, two examples of which, Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone, are now legendary.
Updated 2018
