89 St Henri

grahamg · Post by **grahamg** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:28 am

Picked up an 89 Penfolds St Henri on the weekend for a good price. Probably going to open it this weekend. JO seemed to like it with 94pts but the Penfolds tasting guys seemed to think it was more of a difficult vintage. I've only had the 2001 and 1999. So not ever having a St Henri in the drink now region, what should I expect? Do you like this wine? How will it differ from the "better" years - within their drink now time? My apologies if you are sick and tired of hearing about St Henri right now :oops:

n4sir · Post by **n4sir** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:14 pm

I haven't tried the '89 - I had the opportunity to buy some well cellared bottles a few months ago but passed on it.

In Penfolds Rewards of Patience 4 the panel was fairly positive of it, noting the particularly sweet cherry fruit.

In total contrast James Halliday described it as a DMS bomb in ROP 5, with a comment like: "I violently object to this wine!"

Given the descriptions I'd expect it to be mid-weight, green and extremely sweet as a rough guess, a bit of depature from the usual savoury/meaty/leather characters of a classic St Henri.

Cheers,
Ian

platinum · Post by **platinum** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:18 pm

Hi Graham... I had a bottle about a year ago. I bought it at the Penfolds cellar door when I was there, so the wine had been from their own cellars. I opened it a few weeks later and the cork just crumbled everywhere, and the wine was undrinkable {being polite}. Full credit to Penfolds who replaced it instantly. No notes on the second bottle, which is my only St Henri experience so far it must be said, so I cannot compare to other vintages. I do recall it was very aged with leathery flavours and had a very high amount of sediment. I would rather have drunk it a few years earlier to be honest. I have often read TN's on here about how the 86 is drinking great and the 90 is still youthfull. My bottle of 89 was past its peak. Now a year on, I must track down a 90 to compare.

Rob

platinum · Post by **platinum** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:23 pm

After reading n4sir's description, perhaps it was a classic St Henri Style which I cannot compare to. It was savoury leather in flavour but deffinatly not one bit of greeness in my bottle. Just too aged for mine

DJ · Post by DJ » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:30 pm

The St Henri was the pick of the 89 Penfolds. I had a six pack and drank the last one two years ago when it was beginning to fall apart. At a St henri dinner in 2001 when we had (if I remember correctly) 66, 71, 86, 89 and at least one other It showed very well and consistent to style. If you get a good bottle should be a great drink - not quite in the league of the 86 but it drank better than 88 has to date (tannin resolution problem).

thelongroad · Post by **thelongroad** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:00 pm

had a botle of this maybe 2 years ago - no real notes taken but i do recall that it was a tannic bugger with the fruit all but gone - having said that - the conditions the bottle may have been in could have been fair to middling at best.