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97
/ 100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
Red
Classification
Shiraz
Variety
2013
Vintage
750ml (Bottle)
Bottle Size
Australia
Country
South Australia, Multi Regional
Region
14.5%
Alcohol %
15 Plus Years
Cellaring
Scores
97 / 100"This 2013 Shiraz St Henri follows in the blockbuster footsteps of the 2010 and 2012. The blend is 96% Shiraz with 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and the fruit sources are far and wide, including a real mix of terroirs: McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Padthaway and Port Lincoln. It spent 12 months in 50+-year-old casks. Deep garnet-purple colored, the youthfully reticent nose is complex, offering loam, aged meat, licorice, tar, scorched earth, fenugreek and cloves over a cherry cordial, blueberry pie and dried mulberries core. The medium to full-bodied palate reveals lovely, understated elegance and depth with a firm backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and many fruit and spice layers emerging on the finish. This is one for the long-long haul and, at a fraction of the price of Grange, should be where the smart money goes for stocking the cellar."
- Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
Tasting Notes
Penfolds St Henri is a highly successful and alternative expression of Shiraz and an intriguing counterpoint to Grange. It is unusual among high quality Australian red wines as it does not rely on any new oak. It was created in the early 1950s (first commercial vintage 1957) and gained a new lease of life in the 1990s as its quality and distinctive style became better understood.
"If I were forced to make a list of my Top Ten Australian Wines, then you’d find St Henri near the top. It goes into my cellar and down my neck fairly regularly, though perhaps not as often as I’d like." - Gary Walsh
Tasting Profile
- Light
- Full
- Low Tannin
- Tannic
- Sweet
- Dry
- Low Acidity
- High Acidity