Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2001

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2001St Henri is a time honoured 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. 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

The initial base material was from 500 cases of old Barossa shiraz offered to Robert O'Callaghan in the early 1980's

which cinches it in so nicely

building in richness and texture

and the final blend is not made until shortly before bottling

ethereal red

was selected when soil mapping of the region identified tracts of the much celebrated Terra Rosa over limestone soil structure

was the first of these wines and is still considered among the region's finest

tannin is superb

here length is more important than the depth of Margaret River chardonnay as a whole

but it is all about the saturated black fruits and black licorice at the steering wheel of this multilayered

No none at all

"As it happens I’ve had it a number of times over the past month or two and one thing I’ll say about it is this: serve it beside anything remotely down the pecking order and it smashes it for quality: it’s got breadth and finesse and length