- Home
- ...
- Can't Go Wrong
- PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2019 Bottle
penfolds
PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2019 Bottle
penfolds
PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2019 Bottle
About this wine
PENFOLDS St. Henri Shiraz, South Australia
Grange and St Henri once were equals. But as Grange's fame grew, St Henri was eclipsed. Now St Henri is again re–emerging from the shadow of Grange. Matured in large, old vats that impart little or no oak character, St Henri is Shiraz au naturel. '…a wine of effortless, refined persistence', says Tyson Stelzer, '…with a silky, supple mouth feel and yet somehow still firm and enduring'. Says James Halliday: 'A great St Henri that will come into its own in a bare minimum of 10 years, and live long thereafter'.
Wine Details
Classification and Scores
Taste Profile
Technical Aspects
Winery and Region
Delivery and Returns
All wine bought and sold through LANGTONS is held securely in our state-of-the-art, temperature-controlled National Warehouse, just outside of Melbourne, ensuring fast and efficient shipping to your nominated address Australia-wide.
Shipping Charges Within Australia
All orders placed are subject to a flat shipping fee as outlined below:
Metro Areas | Regional Areas |
$18.50 | $23 |
Find our more about our Delivery Options and Returns and Refunds Policy
Expert Review
Huon Hooke
Very deep, dark and concentrated colour; the bouquet very warm and ripe: baked fruits, ironstone, terracotta, baked earth, also graphite, the palate very full-bodied, dense and powerful, a big wine for St Henri, coating the mouth with tannins and concentrated flavour. Very long finish.
97 points, The Real Review (June 2022)
Expert Review
Tony Love
This can only ever be a stylistic expression of the shiraz variety, as sourcing from six SA districts eliminates regionality. (For the record, The Peninsulas is a defined GI region, this fruit coming from the outskirts of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.) The wine’s point of difference within the Penfolds range is that it has no new oak maturation and spends only 12 months in large format seasoned vats. The result is a sophisticated, dark, almost mysterious shiraz, a wine with secrets within that one suspects will reveal great joys over the next 20 to 30 years, as its forebears have proved for more than half a century. For now, in and around the black fruits there are flint, mushroom, licorice and roast meat notes. Plenty to unpack. A serious SA shiraz that remains a really enticing proposition.
98 points, Wine Pilot (July 2022)
Expert Review
James Suckling
Immediately spicy and complex, this has a rich blackberry and dark-plum nose, together with dark-chocolate and tarry, earthy elements. The palate has a very rich, fleshy feel with such ripe dark-plum, dark-chocolate, blackberry and mulberry flavors on offer. Generous, yet balanced. A South Australian blend of McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway, Wrattonbully and The Peninsulas. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
97 points, JamesSuckling.com (July 2022)
Expert Review
Campbell Mattinson
I’m loving the tannin on this release, the long minerally-flourish of the finish, the subtle mocha notes in there with the cherries and boysenberries and plums. There’s dry/roasted spice here and a good deal of it. Classic St Henri release, studded with fennel, perfumed, unhurried, lengthy, complete.
96 points, The Wine Front (July 2022)
Expert Review
Erin Larkin
The St Henri Shiraz is often one of my favorite reds in the Penfolds Collection, due to the ability of the fruit to shine through the fine sheath of oak that encases it. At this stage, and I know you will hear this often, the wine still represents good value. The 2019 St Henri Shiraz is elegantly structured, with the 2019 vintage showing the warmth and intensity without overstepping balance or line. Texturally, this will only increase in its silky shape, which comes with the gentle suggestion to decant this if you insist on drinking it within five years from harvest (i.e., anytime from now to 2024). This 2019 is shaped by abundant red and purple fruit (and a splash of blue), charry spice and fine tannins. Gorgeous.
96+ points, Wine Advocate (July 2022)
Expert Review
Jancis Robinson MW
25% McLaren Vale, 21% Barossa, 20% Padthaway, 19% Wrattonbully and the rest Port Lincoln, which the official Penfolds literature calls ‘the Peninsulas’. 12 months in large, seasoned oak vats. TA 6.6, pH 3.62.
Glowing, blackish purple. Toasty but not oaky nose, and really sweet palate entry. Strongly medicinal flavours but not too alcoholic or sweet. There is some freshness in this very successful multiregional blend. 14.5%
17.5+ points, JancisRobinson.com (July 2022)
Expert Review
Decanter
So much comfort comes from each sip of this graceful, understated Shiraz, boasting a meld of all the essential elements: bright, crunchy fruit freshness and satisfying savoury grip, all bound together in an intriguing textural tussle. There’s much to contemplate, with olive, plum, mulberry, cocoa and cranberry all rolling and pitching on a king tide in the mid-palate. Such a luxurious sum of the parts makes you want to dive in for more. Released at A$135/bottle.
96 points, David Sly, Decanter (June 2022)
Expert Review
Andrew Caillard MW
Deep crimson. Intense black cherry, blackcurrant, roasted walnut, cacao, herb garden aromas with cedar notes. Well concentrated sweet black cherry, blackcurrant, hint strawberry fruits, and jammy notes. Some dark chocolate chinotto flavours, fine loose-knit slinky textures, very good mid-palate richness and inky density. Finishes claret firm with roasted walnut notes and attractive mineral length. More bottle age will bring all the elements together. Very expressive. McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway, Wrattonbully and emerging 'The Peninsulas' zone of South Australia. 12 months in large, seasoned oak vats. Drink 2024-2042. 14.5% alc
95 points, The Vintage Journal Penfolds Collection 2022 (July 2022)
Expert Review
Angus Hughson
The 2019 St Henri is a high powered and historic South Australian Shiraz. It brings together the richness of the 2019 vintage with the understated St Henri style to provide a stunning proposition. Raw power is on display with punchy aromas of violets, blackberries and ink with mocha oak sitting gently in the background. The palate follows suit with a muscular feel and chewy tannins underpinning a rich bed of broody black fruits which are sustained through to a long, dense finish. This iron fist in a velvet glove is immensely impressive and will, without doubt, age beautifully.
94+ points, Vinous (July 2022)
Expert Review
Jeni Port
St. Henri is a snug, firm fit. Another quiet starter, too but warms to its task the longer the wine is open. Once it gets going, it fills out the middle palate and runs long with plenty of sweet fruit, dark chocolate, tapenade, a touch of leathery savouriness and St. Henri’s distinctive old school, mulled wine spice. St. Henri’s role is to offer an alternative expression of shiraz, what Penfolds refers to as a “counterpoint” to Grange. In other words, no new oak. The 2020 saw 12 months in large, seasoned oak vats. This method always brings a mix of savouriness and spice to the shiraz fruit, often too much. The result can sometimes produce a lack of freshness and energy. That’s where those sapid fine tannins come into play. They work a treat.
94 points, Wine Pilot (July 2022)
Expert Review
Tyson Stelzer
The grace and effortless confidence of St Henri are set to a tune of dark, spicy berry and plum fruit of a warm, low-yielding season. Fine-grained tannins draw out a medium-bodied finish of graceful persistence. This is not a vintage of fireworks, but of comfortable and relaxed stature.
95 points (July 2022)
Penfolds
Penfolds is one of the world’s most celebrated winemakers with an enviable reputation for quality at every price level. Christopher Rawson Penfold began it all in 1844. A doctor, with an eye for medicinal winemaking, he and his wife, Mary sought a new life in Australia with a vine cutting and a bold vision. The family purchased Magill, now a suburb of Adelaide, and set about inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. The Penfolds House Style emerged from this craft of fortified wine production and blending.
The success of Penfolds has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers who pushed innovation to bold new heights. Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange, Dr Ray Beckwith and their team pioneered: major advances in yeast technology and paper chromatography; the understanding and use of pH in controlling bacterial spoilage; the use of headed down/submerged cap fermentation and the technique of rack and return; cold fermentation practices; the use of American oak as a maturation vessel and perhaps most critically, partial barrel fermentation. The use of American oak and barrel fermentation is considered traditional Barossa winemaking practice, in large part due to the work of Penfolds.
Today, the art of blending remains integral to the Penfolds House Style - a unique combination of highly defined fruit aromas, ripe tannins, richness, power and concentration. The most powerful expression of this is the flagship, Grange, now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. Similarly, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, first released in 1960, is now considered the quintessential Australian wine blend. Improved vineyard management, site selection and winemaking brought about the subsequent releases of Penfolds wines such as Bin 707 and Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon – both highly acclaimed and collected wines to this day.
The Penfolds Philosophy is the accumulation of nearly 180 years of shared knowledge and continual refinement. This began with Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold, continued with Max Schubert, Ray Beckwith and generations of Penfolds winemakers leading to the current winemaking team, led by Peter Gago. Their commitment to constantly improving their work, whilst honouring the winemaking techniques of their predecessors, contributes to the consistency of style and quality that Penfolds is known for around the world.
