The 2018 Haselgrove Catkin is an ink-black McLaren Vale Shiraz. The nose—full of dark fruit, spice and vanillin oak—puts you on notice for a super-concentrated, mouth-coating palate. A catkin—the cascading flower of the hazel tree—is delicate. The Catkin of Haselgrove is anything but. Which is just fine because we don’t look to McLaren Vale for wallflower wines. You’ll enjoy these.
Your bonus in this dozen is an upgrade to the 2017 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz under cork. What an upgrade! It is a quintessential expression of this time-honoured wine, a Shiraz with a just kiss of Cabernet Sauvignon. Perfumed and lively with the promise of a long life ahead, this is a masterpiece that delivers on your highest expectations.
Save 40% on this Haselgrove Catkin and Bonus St Henri Dozen. For those who’ve done the sums, yes, that’s just $27.50 per bottle for some seriously impressive wines.
This masterpiece of Australian red wine is largely shiraz with about 3% cabernet just to keep it honest. A completely different animal to most of the Penfolds stable with maturation in big old vats that are more than 50 years old. The colour is deep. The aromas have savoury meaty characters, with that mix of stewed plums and liqueur cherry. Dark swirling fruits of black cherry, coffee grinds and dark chocolate on the palate. The acid line maintains the linear dimension to a very long finish. Just classic.
98 points, The West Australian (July 2020)
The cool and late vintage kissed the wine on both cheeks, making the classic maturation in 50yo vats doubly welcome. A glimpse of the future is the inaugural use of fruit from Port Lincoln joining the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Eden Valley in the blend. This has none of the hardness that sometimes gives an edge to St Henri, purity stepping in to its sculpted palate. Includes 3% cabernet sauvignon.
96 points, Wine Companion (July 2020)
I always love this wine. The breadth of larger format neutral French wood allows a vinous spread of fruit across the palate without the oak impingement. An explosion of blue to blackberry, mulberry, tapenade, Asian five-spice and smoked meats. This is a mellifluous expression of fruit over oak, making it a winning wine among those, perhaps, that often steer toward European expressions."
96 points (July 2020)
The colour is impressively concentrated, dense and dark, the purple tinge staining the glass. The bouquet carries some apparent oaky nuances as well as very ripe blackberry fruit aromas. Concentrated dark berries, graphite, tar and tremendous depth and density of flavour that rolls on endlessly along the palate. Fresh acidity and ripely authoritative tannin grip to close. Hints of mocha and espresso coffee throughout. The texture is supple and smoothly rounded. No oak is apparent on palate. A powerful, lingering wine with great potential.
96 points, The Real Review (July 2020)
There’s a lot to love about this wine: its calm modesty, assured sense of purpose, and long, steady procession of flavours. The elastic palate stretches and shifts through rich savoury notes over a measured meld of sweet berries. If you regard Shiraz as being too much a playful puppy, then this represents a more docile, loyal companion. It’s a comforting wine; reliable and secure. A slowly bowed cello rather than a shrill violin. An evocative slow dance to a timeless ballad. Watch its allure grow with time in the cellar.
96 points, David Sly, Decanter (July 2020)
