Julie Cavil -  Celler Master at Krug Champagne

Julie Cavil -  Celler Master at Krug Champagne
©Dominique Silberstein

Dry Extract Interview: Johann Henschke of Henschke Wines, Eden Valley, Australia

Dry Extract is Falstaff’s mini-interview feature. We ask top professionals in the world of wine, food and travel to answer thirteen deceptively simple questions in quick-fire fashion. The answers are more revealing than you think.

Johann Henschke is the sixth-generation winemaker and viticulturist at his family’s estate in  Eden Valley, South Australia. Established in 1868, it is one of the oldest wine estates in Australia and home of the famous Hill of Grace Shiraz. Henschke studied oenology at both Adelaide and Geisenheim, Germany before taking the reins at home in 2013. 

The best advice I ever got

Family is the most imortant thing.

My life motto

One foot in the known, one foot in the unknown. 

I am currently reading

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe which highlights the value of the ‘farming practices’ that Australia’s First Nations adapted to their land for thousands of years prior to colonisation. As current custodians of the same land for the past 160 years, we have much to learn from their garnered wisdom.

My most played music track

She’s A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones  

If I didn’t do my current job I would be

In the field of medicine. I admire any act to save/improve lives. 

Skill I don’t currently possess but would like to have 

Become a master of Excel spreadsheets. I am many YouTube tutorials away from this. 

My favourite kind of exercise

Running. It doesn’t take as long as a round of golf. 

I relax while

Walking anywhere near the sea.  

I collect

Photographs of wines that I want to try/have tried on my iPhone. 

My essential newspaper/magazine

Twitter? Sorry publishers... subscribing to one is still on my to-do list. 

My desert-island wine

Naturally it wouldn’t just be any wine, and would need to have residual sugar to help me deal with the humidity; so a chilled bottle of Markus Molitor Auslese 2015. 

I have learnt a lot from

My wife Angela, who at many times knows me better than I do! 

My last meal and sip will be

Tagliolini al tartufo bianco with a perfectly matured Armand Rousseau Chambertin. 

Falstaff Editorial Team
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