Penfolds St.Henri Shiraz

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. A lovely traditional multi-sourced Australian maturation style that offers the complete Penfolds story and intrigue in a bottle! This should develop very well with further bottle age. Lovely drinking now but keep for a while - 95 points.

Jancis Robinson

With the 2017 St Henri Shiraz; my first two tasting note words on the day, “Okay, Wow.” It is a highlight of the 2020 collection and an increasingly relevant shiraz style and it has so much going on in its deep, dark fascinations. To see this wine without any of the oakiness of its family siblings is to truly see it - a wine worth dwelling on. There is so much going on here, so much power with supreme grace. This 2017 vintage informs us why St Henri is so revered - 98 points.

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