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PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2017 Bottle
penfolds
PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2017 Bottle
About this wine
PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia
Grange and St Henri once were equals. But as Grange's fame grew, St Henri was eclipsed. Now St Henri is again re–emerging from the shadow of Grange. Matured in large, old vats that impart little or no oak character, St Henri is Shiraz au naturel. '…a wine of effortless, refined persistence', says Tyson Stelzer, '…with a silky, supple mouth feel and yet somehow still firm and enduring'. Says James Halliday: 'A great St Henri that will come into its own in a bare minimum of 10 years, and live long thereafter'.
Wine Details
Classification and Scores
Taste Profile
Technical Aspects
Winery and Region
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Expert Review
Andrew Caillard MW
Deep crimson. Intense blackberry, mulberry roasted walnut aromas with herb garden, star anise notes. Inky textured wine with pure blackberry, mulberry fruits fine supple/ velvety tannins, lovely mid-palate generosity and underlying roasted walnut notes. Finishes brambly firm with plentiful espresso dark berry fruits. Very seductive and beautifully balanced St Henri with classic buoyant fruits and animated tannin ripeness. Lovely drinking now but keep for a while.
95 points (2020)
Expert Review
Ned Goodwin MW
"I always love this wine. The breadth of larger format neutral French wood allows a vinous spread of fruit across the palate without the oak impingement. An explosion of blue to blackberry, mulberry, tapenade, Asian five-spice and smoked meats. This is a mellifluous expression of fruit over oak, making it a winning wine among those, perhaps, that often steer toward European expressions."
96 points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Tyson Stelzer
The cool, extended growing season of 2017 has given birth to a St Henri of multi-faceted complexity, contrasting tangy red berry fruits and mixed spice with hints of charcuterie, set against a backdrop of understated mocha. This is a vintage that plays to the classic tone and mood of this label, where detail and fruit are the mandate, a refreshing counterpoint to the Penfolds regime of density, tannins and oak. Tangy acidity and fine, supple fruit tannins drive a finish of excellent persistence.
95 points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Huon Hooke
The colour is impressively concentrated, dense and dark, the purple tinge staining the glass. The bouquet carries some apparent oaky nuances as well as very ripe blackberry fruit aromas. Concentrated dark berries, graphite, tar and tremendous depth and density of flavour that rolls on endlessly along the palate. Fresh acidity and ripely authoritative tannin grip to close. Hints of mocha and espresso coffee throughout. The texture is supple and smoothly rounded. No oak is apparent on palate. A powerful, lingering wine with great potential.
96 points, The Real Review (July 2020)
Expert Review
Nick Stock
This has a very impressive, intense nose with a cool and spicy edge, as well as aromas of red flowers and fresh raspberries, set amid some wild-herb tones. The palate has very expressive raspberry and cranberry flavors, delivered among fine, crunchy and lithe, juicy tannins. The palate has a deep, red-plum core that’s quite tautly contained and wrapped up neatly for some time to come.
95 points, JamesSuckling.com (July 2020)
Expert Review
Joe Czerwinski
The St Henri point of difference is that it's aged in old, large wooden vats. Sourced from throughout South Australia, the 2017 St Henri Shiraz reveals no oak in its rather raw, unrefined notes of bloody beef, mixed berries, black olives and road tar. It's full-bodied and still tannic at this stage, with a bit of coarseness on the finish that hopefully time will soften. While not the best vintage for St Henri, it's a commendable effort that should age well.
93 points, Wine Advocate (July 2020)
Expert Review
Ray Jordan
This masterpiece of Australian red wine is largely shiraz with about 3% cabernet just to keep it honest. A completely different animal to most of the Penfolds stable with maturation in big old vats that are more than 50 years old. The colour is deep. The aromas have savoury meaty characters, with that mix of stewed plums and liqueur cherry. Dark swirling fruits of black cherry, coffee grinds and dark chocolate on the palate. The acid line maintains the linear dimension to a very long finish. Just classic.
98 points, The West Australian (July 2020)
Expert Review
Decanter
There’s a lot to love about this wine: its calm modesty, assured sense of purpose, and long, steady procession of flavours. The elastic palate stretches and shifts through rich savoury notes over a measured meld of sweet berries. If you regard Shiraz as being too much a playful puppy, then this represents a more docile, loyal companion. It’s a comforting wine; reliable and secure. A slowly bowed cello rather than a shrill violin. An evocative slow dance to a timeless ballad. Watch its allure grow with time in the cellar.
96 points, David Sly, Decanter (July 2020)
Expert Review
Matthew Jukes
There is a rather wonderful image floating around my brain as I type this note. In 2017, I see St Henri as a rather louche gentleman sauntering in a smoking jacket. – a sort of Benedict Cumberbatch-type, chuntering away, rather enjoying himself. It’s funny how different vintages change the character of a wine. Last years 2016 was so profound and well-built that it took my breath away. 2017, by contrast, makes me want to giggle. It is open, plummy, smooth and old-school, with a gentle side and the merest smattering of char and meatiness to retain some of its guile and reputation. Certainly forward-drinking, but with a surprising ability to hold, less robust vintages of St Henri often amaze with their propensity to develop and I would bet that this is one such wine. While my score might seem a little deflated, given that I like this silky wine enormously, this is just because I prefer the more macho St Henri vintages. I bet that this goes down a storm with classicists though and this makes this wine such a genuine product of both its winery and also its year.
18+ points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Campbell Mattinson
It’s a jubey, floral, perfumed wine. You could call it pretty. It’s up and about, lively, fresh, sweet fruited in a boysenberry-plum jam-and-blueberry way. Drinking it is like letting the sun burst in through a window, its rays striking at the fruit bowl. If you can imagine Maggie Beer as a 21-year-old then you can imagine the joyous, bubbly, great-to-be-around character of this wine. St Henri used to come in a plain bottle and I always liked that; at some point they started stuffing it into heavy dark glass; it used to be fashionably unfashionable, plain and adorable; now it plods like the rest of ’em. Fortunately the wine doesn’t seem to mind. You twist the top and it beams straight at you, its eyes brimming with sweet spice. You know, I don’t think this wine has yet been told that it belongs to a publicly listed company. It feels free of care. Its future is bright because of course it is. I haven’t yet swallowed a mouthful but it’s been terribly hard not to. It’s not a great wine or necessarily a great release but it’s beautiful and I don’t know what more can you ask.
94 points, The Wine Front (July 2020)
Expert Review
Jancis Robinson MW
Dark purplish crimson. Pure, intense, Australian, silky saline Shiraz on the nose. Already smooth and approachable. Tarry finish but not aggressively chewy. Hint of molasses on the (dry) finish. This is my style of Oz Shiraz with finely polished edges. The cool vintage doesn't seem to have left any unpleasant traces – but I suppose there was extremely strict selection.
17.5 points, JancisRobinson.com (June 2020)
Expert Review
James Halliday
The cool and late vintage kissed the wine on both cheeks, making the classic maturation in 50yo vats doubly welcome. A glimpse of the future is the inaugural use of fruit from Port Lincoln joining the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Eden Valley in the blend. This has none of the hardness that sometimes gives an edge to St Henri, purity stepping in to its sculpted palate. Includes 3% cabernet sauvignon.
96 points, Wine Companion (July 2020)
Penfolds
Penfolds is one of the world’s most celebrated winemakers with an enviable reputation for quality at every price level. Christopher Rawson Penfold began it all in 1844. A doctor, with an eye for medicinal winemaking, he and his wife, Mary sought a new life in Australia with a vine cutting and a bold vision. The family purchased Magill, now a suburb of Adelaide, and set about inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. The Penfolds House Style emerged from this craft of fortified wine production and blending.
The success of Penfolds has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers who pushed innovation to bold new heights. Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange, Dr Ray Beckwith and their team pioneered: major advances in yeast technology and paper chromatography; the understanding and use of pH in controlling bacterial spoilage; the use of headed down/submerged cap fermentation and the technique of rack and return; cold fermentation practices; the use of American oak as a maturation vessel and perhaps most critically, partial barrel fermentation. The use of American oak and barrel fermentation is considered traditional Barossa winemaking practice, in large part due to the work of Penfolds.
Today, the art of blending remains integral to the Penfolds House Style - a unique combination of highly defined fruit aromas, ripe tannins, richness, power and concentration. The most powerful expression of this is the flagship, Grange, now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. Similarly, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, first released in 1960, is now considered the quintessential Australian wine blend. Improved vineyard management, site selection and winemaking brought about the subsequent releases of Penfolds wines such as Bin 707 and Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon – both highly acclaimed and collected wines to this day.
The Penfolds Philosophy is the accumulation of nearly 180 years of shared knowledge and continual refinement. This began with Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold, continued with Max Schubert, Ray Beckwith and generations of Penfolds winemakers leading to the current winemaking team, led by Peter Gago. Their commitment to constantly improving their work, whilst honouring the winemaking techniques of their predecessors, contributes to the consistency of style and quality that Penfolds is known for around the world.
