TN: AFWAC - Penfolds Bin 389 & St Henri Verticals 30/5/11

[n4sir]

While the prices of some other Penfolds labels are reaching staggering levels, Penfolds Bin 389 & St Henri continue to be some of the most collected wines of the Penfolds stable. This tasting at the Adelaide Fine Wine Appreciation Club, presented by Penfolds Nuriootpa Winemaker Adam Clay, looked at vintages spanning over 20 years of the uniquely Australian Cabernet Shiraz blend, and vintages spanning over 30 years of an equally unique wine that is a total contrast to Grange & other heavily oaked Australian Shiraz. All bottles apart from the first two current releases were bottled under natural cork, and the first seven wines underwent a particularly violent double-decant an hour before serving – the rest were not decanted.

AFWAC usually meets the last Monday night of each month, and anyone interested in future events can e-mail the club at: afwac365@gmail.com

2008 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (South Australia with significant parcels from Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale) 14.5% alc: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon & 48% Shiraz, bottled under screwcap. Medium to very dark red colour. Mineraly and ripe, slightly jammy at times, violets and raspberries, medium-weight with contrasting herbal/jammy characters and a little warmth on the finish. I was rushing to open the rest of the bottles so I didn’t spend anywhere enough time with this, although I had tried it recently a couple of times and my impressions were basically the same. Adam mentioned that a few experienced Penfolds Winemakers think this is similar to the 1998 on release, but I don’t see it to be honest.

2007 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Robe, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills) 14.5% alc: 100% Shiraz, bottled under screwcap. Very dark red/purple. Very elegant and ripe but obviously cooler-climate this vintage, medium to full weight, perfumed with white pepper and earth, blackberry, mint and liquorice. There was an ever so slight, jammy tang at first with some bitterness on the finish, but the leftovers a few nights later were very tidy, the tannins silky and the fruit still strong. I didn’t pick the DMS characters Philip White was worried about, but I do agree it should show its best with cellaring, I’d say six to eleven years. An excellent result for the vintage.

2004 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (Langhorne Creek, Bordertown & Padthaway) 14.5% alc: 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Shiraz. Dark to inky red. Nutty and spicy at first, dark chocolate, eucalypt and cloves, then blackberry and a little wintergreen/black liquorice with breathing; the medium to full weight palate has plenty of up-front grunt with black cherries and earth, and a touch of minty warmth and bright acid on the finish which settles with breathing. It’s powerful and raw, and like the following wines from 2004 & 2002 needs at least five more years to come together – now is precisely not the time to be looking at these wines.

2002 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Bordertown, Barossa Valley, Langhorne Creek) 14.5% alc: Dark to inky red. Initially this appears cooler than the 2004 vintage, greener with hints of tomato leaf, but with breathing it’s riper and sweeter, mulberry, honeycomb and meaty nuances. The palate’s medium to full weight and riper with earthy/liquorice characters and grippy tannins on the finish, a little more forward than the 2004 vintage at this stage, but still needs time.

2004 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Langhorne Creek & Adelaide Hills) 14.5% alc: 96% Shiraz, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Medium to very dark red. Powerful from the start, raspberries, red liquorice and honeyed meats, later some wintergreen, blackberry, black liquorice and black pepper; the palate weight, length and balance is faultless, featuring chalky tannins that with time are swallowed up by the fruit and become silky. A stunning wine considering it’s in a transitional phase, and perhaps not surprisingly it picked up the second most WOTN votes of the St Henri vote.

2002 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale) 14.5% alc: 91% Shiraz, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon. Medium to dark red. Initially very sweet and exotic, meaty and chocolaty, soy and lanolin/praline characters match darker fruits than the 2004 vintage; the palate’s leaner and tighter, with harder, chalky tannins and nutty nuances despite the absence of oak. It’s travelling well, but was lost a little in the shadow of the 2004 vintage on the night.

2001 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (Padthaway, Bordertown and McLaren Vale, with smaller contributions from Barossa, Kalimna and Robe) 14.0% alc: Medium, blood red colour, still strong yet a little transparent in this group. One of the bottles was corked and not served, but the other was in very good shape, opening with whiffs of camphor, black cherries, liquorice and shoe leather, mint and tomato skin, the American oak becoming a little more obvious with a lot of breathing. The palate’s lighter in weight, minty and more chalky than the 1998 & 1999 St Henris that followed, finishing with brawny tannins. For a relatively unheralded vintage this is drinking well, but I also get the feeling it could peak sooner than later with a tricky/narrow window to predict.

1999 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, with small contributions from McLaren Vale & other regions) 14.0% alc: No luck with this vintage tonight – one bottle was badly corked and the other badly oxidised with leathery/jammy and mousy characters that Adam said weren’t representative of the wine.

1999 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Clare Valley) 14.0% alc: Over 95% Shiraz, less than 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Medium to dark blood red. It’s Barossa origins are obvious, with gorgeous smoky/nutty chocolate, meaty and oily nuances matching bright, sweet cranberry fruit; the palate’s only medium-weight, loose-knit, very long, soft and silky with a lovely touch of strawberry on the finish. This is an absolutely beautiful, complex wine in its own right, and surely would have accumulated votes if not served next to the following…

1998 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley, Coonawarra) 14.0% alc: Over 95% Shiraz, less than 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Very dark crimson. More youthful than the 1999 vintage, but just as hauntingly complex and elegant, a little cooler at first with ash, earth, dried blood and camphor, then letting rip with an ever changing cascade of dark chocolate, tobacco, sandalwood, sweet leather, soy and cedar on top of velvety, rich mulberry fruit. The scale and length of the wine is on another level altogether; after years of being tightly coiled up this has finally pounced and is starting to run past the 1999, and is nowhere near top speed or the finish line. At this stage I’ll say it’s every bit as good as the 1990 vintage, possibly better; a deserving WOTN in a landslide vote.

1991 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (Coonawarra, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale & Padthaway) 13.4% alc: Medium to dark red. The bottle at our table was dulled by cork taint, but there was still a core of minty/cherry cola fruit underneath. I was lucky to try a sample from a glass of the other bottle: the nose was tighter/more closed than the 1990 vintage, while the palate had a surprisingly powerful and peppery mid-palate with sweet/spicy fruitcake nuances. It’s beautiful drinking, with the chalky tannins finally melted into the fruit, but overall I didn’t think it had quite the same length, balance or complexity as our bottle of the 1990, but that’s nit-picking.

1990 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (Coonawarra, Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley & Clare) 13.7% alc: Medium red. It’s easy to pick this as Coonawarra dominant, the bouquet bursting with blackcurrant, capsicum, peppermint, black liquorice and a little Jalapeno with breathing; the palate’s just as brilliant with the same characters, earthy and minty with a soft, velvety mouthfeel and outstanding length. The leftovers were still drinking as well three nights after opening – an absolute pleasure, it should hold this excellent form for many years to come. The 1990 and 1991 dominated the Bin 389 WOTN votes, with one side of the room voting for the better bottle of the 1991, the other side voting for the 1990 which in total was judged most preferred by two votes.

1993 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley) 13.5% alc: 100% Shiraz. Medium to dark red. Very similar to the 1999 vintage tonight in all respects, medium-weight, loose-knit with sweet cranberry/redcurrants and smoky, exotic spices, a bright, tangy mid-palate, and a lovely, silky finish. There were certainly no vegetal or stalky/green characters as mentioned in the last edition of Penfolds Rewards of Patience; that said, I think it’s at its peak now and is better drunk sooner than later.

1983 Penfolds St. Henri ‘Claret’ 1.5L magnum (Clare Valley, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra & Langhorne Creek) 11.8% alc: Light to medium brick. Smoky, sweet, but also strange with plastic/metallic characters too; the palate’s relatively lightweight, sweet and sour and short, with the same unpleasant metallic/smoky characters. There’s a story behind this magnum – while I bought it from a previously reliable source it arrived in unexpectedly poor condition, and Kym Schroeter quite rightly rejected it at last years Penfolds clinic. While it failed the clinic, he still generously topped it up with 2005 Grange and suggested it should be opened in the next 12 months, so this seemed an appropriate occasion as an interesting ring-in to show what they assess and reject. I should add the top-up made absolutely no difference to the wine compared to how it appeared at the clinic tasting.

1980 Penfolds St. Henri ‘Claret’ (Vineyard sources & % alc unknown, probably similar to the 1983 vintage): Medium brick. A delightful, complex old wine with sous bois, clove, espresso, then ground coffee, mint and cassis, just a little barnyard, very earthy with dry but soft tannins on the finish. I only tried one of the bottles, and heard afterwards there was some variation – one was a little porty while the other was on song, and I assume I got the latter. It’s certainly a lot better than what was described in the last of edition of Penfolds Rewards of Patience, where it was written off as being well past its best.

Separate Votes for Wine Of The Night were conducted for each of the different wines:

The Bin 389 vote:
1st: 1990 vintage
2nd: 1991 vintage
3rd: 2001 vintage
=4th: 2004 & 2002 vintages.

The St Henri vote:
1st: 1998 vintage
2nd: 2004 vintage
=3rd: 1993 & 1980 vintages.


Cheers,
Ian

[Craig(NZ)]

Nice notes. The 1993 St Henri I have always found better than Rewards of Patience indicates. Mine are now all gone but found them all better than I expected. Nice to know re the 1998 too, got a few of those.

Agree re 04 389 too, this holds a lot of promise, nicely polished "natural" feeling wine, hasnt got the "forced" feel I get with some vintages of 407/389

[malliemcg]

Well that's answered my questions as to how my '02 St Henri's and '04 389's are tracking without the need to crack (another) one - 6 of each left, time to leave 'em alone for a while.

[Brucer]

I wonder why the 96 389 was not there?

[Wayno]

Good notes, Ian. The 04 St Henri is obviously a stormer, although I wouldn't know from experience as none of my bottles will see the light for awhile.

I've been a bit disappointed with the 02 389 in the past, finding it flat and muted - the same experience from two bottles. Perhaps it was going through some sort of transition at the time, and may be worth a recheck. I thought the 01 389, my last of which was drained a few years ago, was pretty decent, backed up by your description.

[Jay60A]

I wonder why the 96 389 was not there?

Or the St Henri 1996 for that matter. Both blistering wines ... I find the Penfolds 98s slightly overworked in comparison but that's just me.

[n4sir]

I wonder why the 96 389 was not there?

Or the St Henri 1996 for that matter. Both blistering wines ... I find the Penfolds 98s slightly overworked in comparison but that's just me.

This wasn't a Penfolds sanctioned event, and apart from Adam their only contribution was two bottles each of the latest releases (2007 St Henri & 2008 Bin 389).

The majority of the wines came from the AFWAC club cellar, the rest were generous contributions from committee members (in some cases their last bottles) which the club fully reimbursed. Wines like the 1996 Bin 389 & St Henri, 1990/1991 St Henri & 1998 Bin 389 were certainly on the radar, but with what the club already had, what was already available, and the lack of time/extra cost of seeking additional vintages, a line had to be drawn somewhere.

Cheers,
Ian

[JDSJDS]

Excellent notes, thanks. Loved the 1999 St Henri I had a couple of years ago, and glad to have 2 bottles of the 2004 St Henri in my cellar. I'll make sure I wait a few years yet.

[Brucer]

Thanks n4sir.
I checked my stash, and only have 4 1998 St Henri left from a doz, but there is a doz 04s. I have been getting into the 02s recently, as I think they are pretty good.

[Craig(NZ)]

I wonder why the 96 389 was not there?

Or the St Henri 1996 for that matter. Both blistering wines ... I find the Penfolds 98s slightly overworked in comparison but that's just me.

No, that's not just you. Agree - though the 98 St Henri is a class act

[Chuck]

Top notes Ian. I tried the first of my half dozen 1998 St Henri's 2 years ago and agree it needs time. Great potential I thought.

Carl

[n4sir]

I should also quickly pass on a big thank you to Sparky for replacing the dud Bin 389s on the night with bottles of the current 2008 release. These will go straight into the club cellar, to be used when the club re-examines this theme sometime in the distant future.

Cheers,
Ian