Jul 23, 2026 – 5.00amWhen the Henschke wine family were thinking about marking the 70th vintage of their famous Mount Edelstone shiraz earlier this year, they decided it was worth a special commemorative label. But rather than commission a modern take on their familiar black and silver livery, they decided to look to the past, to the maroon, cream and turquoise colour scheme of the wine’s first labels in the mid-1950s.“That was the look my dad chose for the inaugural vintage, the 1952,” says winemaker Stephen Henschke. “And it had that label for the first few years. I was just a little baby when Dad made those wines; I remember as a kid being with my grandpa when they were pruning the vines in Mount Edelstone, they had the old vine burner pulled up through the rows with the horses. It’s always been a part of my life, really.”Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Max AllenDrinks columnistMax Allen is The Australian Financial Review's drinks columnist. He is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about wine and drinks for close to 25 years.Fetching latest articles