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Available for Purchase

2017 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 750mL

$145.00 $119.00Save 18%

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Private Sale- priced per LOT inc. GST (if applicable) and commission.

1 in stock

98/100 Points

"Deep crimson. Intense elderberry, mulberry and bramble aromas with liquorice notes. A richly concentrated and exuberant wine with juicy mulberry and elderberry fruits, underlying roasted walnut complexity, plentiful dense chalky brambly tannins and fresh mineral acidity. Finishes chalky dry, long and sweet. Peak drinking 2028 to 2045."  Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating

"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."  Ray Jordan, The West Australian - 98 points

"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."  Tony Love - 98 points

"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. Drink by 2047."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points

"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."  Ned Goodwin MW – 96 points

"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. Drink: 2021-2045."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 points

"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."  David Sly, Decanter - 96 points

"Could this wine be anything else but St Henri?  It retains the essential St. Henri character – sweet, ripe fruit, earth, leather, flavour to burn and richness. Chocolate, toast, red and blue fruits and arresting pot-pourri, violets aromatics. A cooler vintage seems to have brought a floral edge to St. Henri which adds even more to its usual high appeal. Fans of St Henri will not be disappointed."  Jeni Port, Wine Pilot - 96 points

Erin Larkin - 96 points

"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."  Matthew Jukes - 18.0+ points

"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."  Andrew Caillard MW – 95 points

"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."  Tyson Stelzer – 95 points

"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.”  Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com – 95 points

"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."  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 94 points

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