Description
St Henri is a time-honoured and alternative expression of shiraz, and an intriguing counterpoint to Grange.
It is unusual amongst high quality Australian red wines as it does not rely on any new oak.
Released for the first time by Penfolds in the early 1950s (first commercial vintage 1957), it gained a new lease of life in the 1990s as its quality and distinctive style became better understood.
Proudly, a wine style that hasn’t succumbed to the dictates of fashion or commerce.
St Henri is rich and plush when young, gaining soft, earthy, mocha-like characters with age.
It is matured in an assortment of old large vats that allow the wine to develop, imparting minimal, if any oak character.
Although a small proportion of cabernet may sneak into the blend, the focal point for St Henri remains shiraz.
A charming shiraz, always an outlier among its peers.
Here you will find no new oak influence, none required, the very essence of shiraz gently matured in large, seasoned vats.
Swirl, allow the aromatics to emerge slowly, gently.
Structural descriptors don’t usually lead the charge for St Henri, but they are certainly faithful to the 2019 vintage.
Allow some time for this wine.
Beautiful now but with the correct cellaring conditions, the peak drinking time will be between 2024 – 2045.
This can only ever be a stylistic expression of the shiraz variety, as sourcing from six SA districts eliminates regionality.
(For the record, The Peninsulas is a defined GI region, this fruit coming from the outskirts of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.) The wine’s point of difference within the Penfolds range is that it has no new oak maturation and spends only 12 months in large format seasoned vats.
The result is a sophisticated, dark, almost mysterious shiraz, a wine with secrets within that one suspects will reveal great joys over the next 20 to 30 years, as its forebears have proved for more than half a century.
For now, in and around the black fruits there are flint, mushroom, licorice and roast meat notes.
Plenty to unpack.
A serious SA shiraz that remains a really enticing proposition.
– Tony Love, winepilot.com, 98 Points The Finer Details Style – Red Wine Varietal – Shiraz Country – Australia Region – McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, The Peninsulas Vintage – 2019 Bottle Size – 750ml ABV – 14.5%
