Over the Hill in China: It’s Grace vs Glory for Australia’s Henschke

With some free time due to the mid-Autumn festival, I tidied my desk last night and came across a brochure I got at the Topwine fair held in Beijing last June.  The brochure is for the South Australia brand Hill of Glory.

If you are thinking, “Hmmm, that sounds pretty close to Hill of Grace from Henschke, which is also from South Australia”, give yourself a pat on the back. In fact, the brochure claims a clear link between said wine and winery.

From the brochure (my highlights):

“Among the Australian wine[s], there are two brilliant diamonds. One is Grange from Penfolds winery, and the other one is Hill of Glory from Henschke….

“Cyril Henschke, the fourth inheritor… made the first wine named after Hill of Glory in 1956. In 1978, Stephen, the fifth inheritor, promoted the brand Hill of Glory to the international stage.”

I could go on, but you get the idea, namely, that Hill of Glory is being linked to Henschke even though the winery has no such brand. The brochure lists six Hill of Glory wines in total — “27” Shiraz 2009, “42” Merlot 2010, “47” Shiraz 2010, “58” Shiraz 2009, “69” Merlot 2010 and “100” Shiraz 2010. If memory serves, and admittedly it is fuzzy, the numbers are linked to vine age. As for the wine, it was okay but far from Henschke quality.

No doubt, some people are already inserting this single case into their outrage guns and preparing to blast generalizations that Chinese importers are ripping off Australian, and other, winemakers en masse. They are probably imaging other tables at the fair overflowing with bottles of Yellow Trail, Penfolds Grunge and Golf Blass.

Such was not the case. I walked the fair with one of Australia’s top wine writers, one who should be able to identify a fake Aussie bottle, and we found slim pickings. And instead of a passive acceptance of Hill of Glory as the norm in China, the stand drew disdain from numerous distributors and visitors. As best I could tell, it was the exception and not the rule, was roundly criticized, and is unlikely to return next year.

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