Our Commitments

Henschke is committed to Quality, Health & Safety and the Environment. Our team has formal policies that ensure we are accountable in these areas.

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Quality

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C A Henschke & Co is one of Australia’s leading winemakers and grape growers. The company specialises in the production of premium quality table wines, which are exported world-wide. The Henschke family has been winemakers at Keyneton for five generations with a proud heritage, philosophy and tradition. C A Henschke & Co is committed to achieving excellence in production and customer expectations through the following;

• The C A Henschke & Co overall goal is to be the best, not the biggest wine producer in Australia by continuously improving on our production of exceptional
wines from outstanding vineyards, while reducing our impact on the environment and regenerating our surrounding natural landscapes.
• Continuous improvement of the C A Henschke & Co Quality Management System in accordance with the principals of AS/NZS ISO 9001:2015 “Quality Management systems – Requirements” and the integrated HACCP Plan.
• Complying with relevant Legislation, Codes and Standards.
• Managing and monitoring our vineyards and working with our selected growers to obtain the best quality of grapes for our wines.
• By utilising our Quality Management System, we shall select suppliers and processes, where possible, which minimise the impact of our activities on the environment.
• Ensuring our wines exceed the expectations and requirements of our customers in both Australia and export markets.
• Ensuring that its employees are committed to the management of quality, environmental impacts and customer satisfaction.
• Ensuring that this policy is understood, implemented and maintained at all levels within the organisation.

Download Henschke Quality Policy
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Packaging

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The Henschke family has been making wine since Johann Christian Henschke planted a small vineyard on his diverse farming property at Keyneton in 1862, but with the first commercial release in 1868, believed to be principally Riesling and Shiraz, the wheels were set in motion for greater things to come.

Presently we have one hundred hectares of estate vineyard in the cooler, high altitude areas around Keyneton, Eden Valley and Lenswood to produce unique and intense fruit flavours in the grapes. The winery produces approximately 45,000 cases of wine per year and employs about 45 staff in the vineyards and the winery.

Today, it is fifth-generation Stephen Henschke and his wife Prue at the helm, passionately upholding the family name and reputation. This highly regarded team has won a multitude of awards that recognise the complementary nature of their roles -Stephen as winemaker and Prue as viticulturist.

Our Mission:
To operate a profitable family business enterprise, utilising sustainable practices within a healthy functioning ecosystem and produce premium quality products packed in sustainable packaging by applying the principles of the Australian Packaging Covenant.

To create a diverse, integrated business which:
• Provides commercial benefit to the family stakeholders
• Protects, restores and sustains the environment
• Educates us all on the benefits provided by a healthy environment
• Uses recycled content wherever practical in its packaging
• Uses biodegradable alternatives wherever practical in its packaging
• Re-uses materials as much as possible before considering recycling
• Recycles as much waste as possible after considering re-use

In line with our beliefs of maintaining an environmentally sustainable business, over the years we have introduced several initiatives that help us achieve these aims.

Being signatories of the Australian Packaging Covenant and aligning with our beliefs to protect the environment and therefore the sustainability of our business, our aim is to reduce our impact on the planet’s resources with our policy for purchasing packaging. Where possible, our packaging is to be manufactured with recycled materials, or just as importantly, packaging is to be either re-usable or recyclable. We also encourage all of our customers to recycle the packaging in which our wines are delivered (see advice below).

Responsibility for the company packaging
The responsibility of the selection and sourcing of our packaging lies with the Managing Director and the management of the Packaging Covenant Principles lies with Quality & Safety Manager.

Packaging materials
Glass bottles are used for the whole range of Henschke wines, with either screw-cap or glass stopper closures. The majority of our wines are then packed into 6 pack cardboard cartons with cardboard liners to protect the bottles in transit. The cartons are then stacked on returnable pallets and stretch wrapped for security.

Our most distinguished wines are packed into wooden presentation boxes. Several of our red wines are packed into cardboard presentation boxes for specialist markets. One of our dessert wines is packed into a cylindrical metal presentation tin.

Being in the premium to super-premium end of the wine market, presentation is a very important aspect of our business and we try to incorporate our beliefs in protecting the environment when selecting packaging, especially in for gifting and presentation purposes.

Packaging reviews
Each new item of packaging is reviewed using the 12 points of the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines as a basis and we have all of our existing packaging reviewed. Records are maintained of each review undertaken within our ISO14001 Environmental Management System.

Customer recycling advice
Almost all of the packaging used by Henschke is recyclable. We encourage re-use or recycling of materials wherever possible, however some products require particular treatment to ensure they are recycled after they have been placed in the recycling bin. Please follow this advice to ensure that your Henschke packaging does not end up in landfill.

Screw-caps should be left off glass bottles to enable them to be recycled separately. Glass stoppers can be left in the bottle.

Heavy cardboard presentation boxes should be dismantled, flattened and placed in the recycling bin. If they are left assembled, they may not be recycled.

The foam inserts in our wooden presentation boxes should be removed and can then be re-used (consider donating them to your local school or child care centre), otherwise they should be placed in general rubbish. The wooden box should be dismantled and recycled in the green waste bin. Metal hinges and latches should be removed and either added to a larger metal recycling lot or placed in general rubbish.

The cotton handles on our paper gift bags from Henschke Cellar Door should be removed and placed in general rubbish. The paper can then go in the recycling bin.

The packaging filler used for protecting the glass bottles in our wine cartons is a biodegradable product made from corn and can be re-used in the garden as mulch, or recycled by placing in the green waste bin.


See our Australian Packaging Covenant action plan.


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Environment

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The purpose of the Henschke Environmental Policy is to define a vision for the future and to set environmental priorities and goals. The family business is committed to sustainability and will identify potential risks to our environment by implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS).

As a member of the Wine Industry’s Environmental Code, the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) Program on all sites and ISO 14001 accreditation in the winery, Henschke is committed to achieving compliance and to ensure we safeguard and enhance the natural environment in which our business operates. As a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) we will endeavour to comply with the principles of the APCO in relation to our packaging, waste and recycling. To guide these processes we will maintain an Sustainability Action Plan and an APCO Action Plan, each reviewed annually, to cover current activities and initiatives. We commit to support and comply with Freshcare rules and the Australian Wine Industry Standard of Sustainable Practice for both Winery and Viticulture as part of the SWA program. Henschke is committed to Carbon measurement and reduction starting with certification to Carbon Reduce with ToiTu NZ (ISO 14064).

Our Mission:

    • To create a diverse, integrated agricultural business which:

• Provides commercial benefit to the family stakeholders
• Protects, restores and sustains our environment
• Educates us all on the benefits provided by a healthy environment
• Uses organic/biodynamic production methods in the vineyards and over time all farm properties

Our Aim:

      • To operate a profitable family business enterprise, utilising sustainable viticultural and farming practices within a healthy functioning ecosystem and produce premium quality products in sustainable packaging.

Our Policy:

• Sustainability: To integrate principles of sustainability to relevant business decisions in a cost efficient manner. These principles are:
– Maintenance of long term productivity
– Continual improvement from vineyard to customer through codes, covenants and EMS
– Adopting suppliers with sustainable management
– Increased efficiency in the use of natural resources such as soil and water, and waste minimisation
– Awareness of biosecurity issues and adoption of preventative practices to maintain health and productivity of the vineyards, land holdings and business
– Inter-generational and intra-generational equity (but not at the cost of business survival)
• Environment: To prevent pollution of our natural environment and build up soil health and biodiversity. We wish to maintain and restore 30% of our total landholdings with the original plant associations spread across the 5 different sub-catchments of the North Rhine, Parrot Hill, North Para, Upper Saunders and Onkaparinga:
– riparian zones (within all five sub catchments)
– native grasslands (1 in Upper Saunders Creek)
– sheoak woodlands (2 in North Rhine and in Upper Saunders Creek)
– peppermint box grassy woodlands (2 in North Rhine and in Parrot Hill Creek)
– red gum grassy woodlands (1 in North Para River)
– blue gum sclerophyll forest (2 in North Rhine and in Parrot Hill Creek, 2 in North Para River)
– stringybark sclerophyll forest(1 in Onkaparinga)
• Community: Contribute to the quality of life in the 3 wine regions in which we operate and to form partnerships with community groups in the Adelaide Hills, Eden Valley and Barossa Valley.
• Heritage: to protect and maintain the heritage of the winery site including:
– Historic stone winery buildings dating back to the 1860s
– Historic cellar door and tasting room buildings, including the Julius Room
– Historic house and outbuildings
– Maintain white/stone coinwork and windows
– Maintain slate grey roof
– Maintain traditional concrete fermenters, historic ca.1900 timber basket press and sundry winemaking equipment
– Maintain historic gardens, including 100yo hedge, etc
• Stakeholders: inform all business members, employees and contractors of their environmental responsibilities through training and communication.
• Partnerships: Partner with experts and organisations that contribute to business and community knowledge about sustainability.
• Compliance: To comply with all relevant legislative requirements and codes of practice as well as licencing requirements as required under Quality, WHS, Environment and HACCP systems.
• Resources: To dedicate sufficient resources to enable the operation and the maintenance of the Environmental Management System.
• Waste Minimisation: to minimise the amount of waste we produce, re-use materials and recycle wherever possible and practical.
• Monitoring: Use the most appropriate indicators available to monitor our business operations and record our environmental progress.

    • Our Goals:

• To have a truly sustainable business – one that can prosper indefinitely
• Move beyond compliance to the development of a leading edge business striving for excellence in everything we do
• In the short term minimise and in the long term eliminate negative impacts that our day to day operations have on the environment
• To have a commercial advantage by promoting sustainability
• Environmental Objectives will be set by Senior Management and will be monitored and reviewed regularly (at least annually)

This policy is publicly available to any party who wishes to see it. Actions taken towards meeting this policy are consistently reviewed at production meetings, on site individual vineyard meetings, regular vineyard management meetings and the QSE Committee meetings. This Policy will be reviewed periodically.

All CA Henschke & Co staff, contractors and visitors shall comply with the EMS policies, procedures and practices on the properties owned or controlled by Henschke or while conducting any work for or on behalf of Henschke.

Complying with this policy is a condition of employment with the company and it is the responsibility of all managers and supervisors to ensure the understanding, implementation and enforcement of this policy.

Download Henschke Environmental Policy
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Health & Safety

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C A Henschke & Co. is committed to a proactive approach to providing a safe and healthy working environment, safe systems of work, plant and equipment, continual improvement as well as to ensure that employees, contractors and visitors in the company’s care are safe.

The Officers of the Company are responsible and accountable to meet legislative requirements of the WHS Act 2012, WHS Regulations 2012, Endorsed Codes of Practice and Australian Standards and also to encourage and facilitate injury prevention, injury management and rehabilitation for a safe and early return to work and the integration of work health and safety into workplace decisions. C A Henschke & Co. is committed to ongoing certification to ISO 45001 at our Winery site.

Our primary focus is to prevent injury and promote a safe and healthy lifestyle, through:

Consulting and working with employees to reduce workplace hazards and risks through the QSE Committee and/or individual or department meetings to improve our safety rules, procedures and safe systems of work.
• Utilise Henschke Systems to minimize or eliminate hazards identified as much as is reasonably practicable
• Safety objectives will be set by Senior Management and will be monitored and reviewed at least annually at the Annual Management Review.
• Utilising appropriate resources and external expertise, where applicable, on health and safety issues.
• Arranging appropriate instruction and training on safe working procedures, including understanding and assessments of the hazards and risks involved.
• Maintaining training records of all training carried out for each employee.
• An effective system of reporting workplace injuries and incidents, their investigation and introducing actions to prevent reoccurrence.
• Providing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment and First Aid facilities.
• Actively supporting efficient injury management and rehabilitation to encourage an early but safe return to work for injured or sick employees, by developing a Return to Work Plan in conjunction with medical practitioners and Return to Work SA.

The C.A. Henschke & Co QSE Committee shall meet and work within the guidelines of the QSE Committee Constitution document.
Supervisors and Managers are responsible for the health and safety of workers under their control.
Employees and other persons working under the control of C.A. Henschke & Co are responsible for co-operating and working to support this policy and other policies and procedures issued by the Company in respect of specific health and safety matters. Furthermore, all employees, contractors and visitors have a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to ensure their own and other people’s safety.
This policy, together with safe working procedures shall be brought to the attention of all employees.

Download Henschke Health & Safety Policy
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Environmental Accolades

Stephen and Prue have shared many accolades over the years for the quality of their environmental management and innovation including:

2022 Environmental Excellence Award in the Small-Medium Winery category, presented by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA)
2021 Robert Parker Green Emblem for Outstanding Efforts in Sustainable Wine Production
2020 International Sustainable Winegrowing Award – Gold Medal Winner
2020 Outstanding Vitculturist – delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards
2016 Australian Packaging Covenant High Performer Award
2015 SA Regional Awards – Premium Food and Wine from our Clean Environment
2015 Australian Packaging Covenant High Performer Award
2012 SA Wine Industry Association Inaugural Environmental Excellence Award
2010 Advantage SA Barossa Regional Awards Sustainability Award