TN: Penfolds St Henri mini-vertical at Nuriootpa 16/10/10

[n4sir]

Last month the Penfolds Kalimna Club arranged a tour of its Nuriootpa winery presented by Winemaker Adam Clay, followed by a mini-vertical of St. Henri among the maturation barrels, and then lunch at the cellar door itself.

2001 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (cork): Medium to dark garnet. Meaty, smoky and slightly raisiny on the nose; the medium-weight palate’s indicating it’s in its drinking window, a ripe entry followed by a grippy structure, sweet and sour fruit with just a tinge of nectarine, finishing dry and mineraly. Drink now and up to five years.

2003 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (cork): Dark garnet. Still sweet and breezy like grenache, blueberry/cherry jam, gummy jubes and black pepper; the palate’s just as odd and lacks weight - it's sweet, confected, peppery and short. I’m amazed it has still retained that sweetness three years from release, but it’s still an unconvincing wine – it’s hard to see where it will go from here.

2004 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (cork): Medium red. Completely closed on the nose, and the palate while still having excellent structure, length and sweet blueberry/sour cherry fruit, with hints of black coal and earth, seemed strangely subdued, the finish very dry. Eventually the damp smell of cork taint eventually surfaced to signal this was scalped – not bad considering it never really had a chance.

2005 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (cork): Dark to inky red. Toasty/stocky with sour cherries and smoke at first, becoming very inky and spicy, full of star anise, meaty juices and liquorice; the palate’s chewy, grippy and big with a tight, tannic finish, a classic St Henri in every sense. The biggest and best of the already-released wines in this vertical (at this particular tasting anyway).

2006 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (screwcap): Medium to very dark blood red. Inky, cool and slightly weedy compared to the previous wine, with green liquorice, white pepper and black cherries; the palate’s chalky and sweet, shot with kirsch and tobacco, but overall it looks a little simple and green at this stage in comparison to that flamboyant 2005. Give it time though, and it will blossom and probably outlive most of these.

2010 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz (barrel sample): Inky, glass staining red/purple. An incredibly spicy and fruity nose, full of red liquorice, blueberries, tea chest/ground spices and just a hint of pepper; the palate’s just as sweet, exotic and full of promise, black cherries/jubes and a touch of creamy rhubarb and spices, chalky tannins and excellent length. It’s easy to see why they’re excited about this one, and the club members were lapping it up knowing they won’t see it for another four years.


Cheers,
Ian

[Partagas]

Great stuff. Shame you didn’t have the 02. Have looked at it a few times and have plenty left but really confused at its standing. Took a bottle to a mate’s house the other day but didn’t get around to cracking it. Would like to hear other opinions on what they think about that vintage right now because I really am not yet convinced that it is a great vintage. Really hope it’s a quiet sleeper.

Have also luckily held quite a few 04’s before my having child family budget cut and at last view it was sensational heading towards a classic St Henri. I believe your bottle probably was as mentioned i.e. had issues.

Thanks for the notes

Sam

[monghead]

Thanks for the great notes Ian.
Did you get to smell the cork of the 2004? Would be interested to see if the cork taint was more pronounced by doing this? Also, surprised they didn't open another '04 for you guys...
The 2010 sounds like it would be pretty special...

Cheers,

Monghead.

[n4sir]

Thanks for the great notes Ian.
Did you get to smell the cork of the 2004? Would be interested to see if the cork taint was more pronounced by doing this? Also, surprised they didn't open another '04 for you guys...
The 2010 sounds like it would be pretty special...

Cheers,

Monghead.

It was pretty informal and there were about 50 or so members/people there so they went through a couple of bottles of each vintage in the one hit. I didn't get to smell the cork, and I think I was one of the few to pick up it was scalped - it was (very) subtle at first, I didn't say anything and nobody else bought it up. We were on a pretty tight schedule to get through the vertical before heading to the cellar door for lunch, and moved on to the 2005 not too long afterwards so I let it slide.

Cheers,
Ian