Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2013 w/Box - 6bots 750mlx6

Wine Advocate #227, Oct 29, 2016, by Lisa Perrotti-Brown
This 2013 Shiraz St Henri follows in the blockbuster footsteps of the 2010 and 2012. The blend is 96% Shiraz with 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and the fruit sources are far and wide, including a real mix of terroirs: McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Padthaway and Port Lincoln. It spent 12 months in 50+-year-old casks. Deep garnet-purple colored, the youthfully reticent nose is complex, offering loam, aged meat, licorice, tar, scorched earth, fenugreek and cloves over a cherry cordial, blueberry pie and dried mulberries core. The medium to full-bodied palate reveals lovely, understated elegance and depth with a firm backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and many fruit and spice layers emerging on the finish. This is one for the long-long haul and, at a fraction of the price of Grange, should be where the smart money goes for stocking the cellar.

With over 165 years of winemaking experience, the Penfolds winemaking tradition is both firmly established and well proven. It is a way of life; no more evident than in the fact that most members of the winemaking team have worked over twenty vintages each at Penfolds.
Experience has created a tradition of excellence, which in turn has led to the production of quality Australian wines, recognised the world over.
Penfolds has managed to create a truly unique and distinctive winemaking signature the Penfolds stamp, of which every member of the Penfolds winemaking team is immensely and justifiably proud.
St 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. It was created in the early 1950s and gained a new lease of life in the 1990s as its quality and distinctive style became better understood. St Henri is rich and plush when young, gaining soft, earthy, mocha-like characters as it ages. It is matured in old, 1460 litre vats that allow the wine to develop, imparting minimal, if any oak character. Although a small proportion of Cabernet is sometimes used to improve structure, the focal point for St Henri remains Shiraz.

Meats, Beef and Venison