I don’t have a whole lot of Penfolds in my cellar with the exception of the St Henri shiraz being the only multiple bottles. I have just a few Penfolds bottles stashed away now, they are pretty expensive these days. They are easy to identify though, the red bottle seals make them easy to identify laying in the racks, they are not grouped together so I have to search a bit.

Checking now, I have a 1996 and 2005 St Henri left, along with a 2012 vintage 407 cabernet sauvignon and a 2009 Bin 28 shiraz. With the fruit matured in old seasoned oak vats, there is really no imparting of oak flavours, the St Henri shiraz is fruit driven. Typically the St Henri is matured for 14 months in 2000 litre old oak casks. They reckon the St Henri is opulent and fruit driven when young, developing into soft earthy style mocha flavours as the wine ages. I am struggling to remember when I have ever opened a young St Henri, most of my experiences are vintage wines.

The St Henri was created in the early 1950s with the first commercial vintage released in 1957, this shiraz offers a counter to the famous Grange shiraz. Unlike the now famous Grange that is snapped up by collectors, the St Henri remains reasonably priced. Whilst a famous shiraz, the 2006 St Henri is a blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and the 1996 is a shiraz. The St Henri is a varietal wine with fruit sourced from the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale regions.

With a couple of searches, I found a 1996 St Henri priced at $319 and the 2006 priced $160 at Dan Murphy’s. The St Henri really took on a renaissance in the 1990s, this is when both Penfolds and the shiraz became popular again. The 2020 is the current release and priced at $134 once again at Dan Murphy’s as I try to keep wine pricing consistent with retailers to provide an even pricing comparison.