Opened Jan 2024 A great St Henri but still too early , give it 5 more years to let the development evolve . If you like them on the fresh side then go for it.
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Opened this to pair with a reverse seared New York strip. Was afraid of opening it too early with less than 1 hour of decant, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed it over the hour and half at dinner. Rich and smooth with sweet tannins, which were not excessive nor bitter. Satisfying nose of red fruits and mocha. Thanks to the use of very old oak vats, it is not a tannic or jammy style typical of Australian shiraz.
No idea what the price is for current release, but I paid CAD 68 at Costco five years ago and still thought it was a good deal.
Lovely wine. Soft tannins, well structured. Lots of gas in the tank. Luscious purple colour. American oak on the palate leading to a blackberry finish. Mocha and pepper on the mid level. Very flavourful.
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Took a few hours to open up. Was pretty flat to begin. At the darker end of the fruit spectrum. The older oak treatment ensures there’s some enjoyment here. You can still see a bit of the house style bleeding through, but nowhere near as much as its masculine, balltearing brethren. Has some upside for the future too.
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1ere fois que je dégustais ce vin. Je m’attendais à ce qu’il soit plus corsé (explosif), mais non, tout en finesse et avec une belle longueur ! Le nez est fruité et intense. Très bon vin 👍🏼
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Young, complex with berry on the nose. Multi layered taste with dark fruit and strong tannins. Then leather and a light smoke in the background. Top wine with long life potential
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Good purity of ripe blue and black fruits, earthy star anise, cardamon and black pepper. Very fresh raspberries on the palate which is rich and intense. Medium-bodied and polished structure after an hour in the decanter. The density of flavours flow to a supple finish. Just opening up now and will benefit from a few more years of bottle aging. 91-92 pts
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Always a reliable bottle at a good price, the 2014 rendition has lots of dark, ripe fruit, cassis, licorice with a touch of vanilla. Generous palate but within classic proportions so that it goes well with food.
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Dark, runt red with no hints of maturity. Intense, powerful nose with blackberrys, chocolate, some vanilla. Strong, full taste with tannins but still smooth and elegant. Long! Great future!
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Took a two hours decant to hit its stride and when it did showed wonderfully. Ripe fruit but also restraint. Well integrated but early in its evolution. Enjoyable now with a good decant, more to come.
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Aged in 15 y.o. large format French oak, nice, silky, not heavy, but rich, good concentration, some tangy fruit, sort of understated Syrah, seemed to have an earthy style compared to the RWT. 3% CS. At Monopole with Zoe of Penfolds. 90-91
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I continue to really like this wine. It's much too young and I really wish that it had more time to open up. We did decant and consume over a few hours. It's got some of the new world fruit, but so very balanced. And a nice crisp which I think the old wood plus acid tends to create. This is more about potential. If I owned these I'd be holding them.
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Great luscious bouquet of bright red fruit. However upon entry the party is over, the fruit seems to have magically vanished. What comes across is a smooth simple wine, nothing near what came through on the nose. Decanted for over an hour as well. The finish picks up notes of Shiraz, with slight pop, though still nothing portraying quality, or this price point. Some delicate tannin was present near the end, though again very hard to pick out. Regardless of if this wine was considered to young to drink, any wine of this price point should be showing much more at any age then this did. Had beside a 15 389 &409, and this was just slightly ahead of the 389 due in large part to its nose. Perhaps worth $30-$40 on a good day?
Relatively deep core; quite youthful on the nose and tight but the fruit that shows itself is inviting and hints at great potential; smooth already, quite plush. Builds in intensity as it opens up on the palate. Masses in reserve. Long finish. Impressive.
SobeWFF. Spends 12 months in large vats. Fruit is sourced from Barossa and McLaren but this year includes Adelaide Hills. 96/7 Shiraz Cab mix. The cooler Adelaide Hills fruit shines through on the bouquet with a floral fresh racy berries. Thick chewy tannins on the palate with hints of espresso and black pepper. Quite similar to Central coast CA Syrah.
Festival of Alex - Penfolds Kalimna with Stephanie Dutton: Blueberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant, cherry, smoke and plums. Fine tannins with silky texture and good acidity. The fruit is well controlled, this feels nicely balanced with the power of the fruit coiled up for the moment. Very good and the potential to be better.
Nose Lifted, racy. Rhône-ish at first, South Australian upon sitting. Bountiful aromatics ascend – initially redcurrant, cranberry, Christmas cake mix, and then the liberation of citrus (lime peel), fennel and olive. Middle Eastern spices also present – sweet, not savoury (incl. cinnamon, nutmeg). And, not unexpected, something not present - oak!
Palate Svelte. Nevertheless, propels assertive tannins that build – sheeted/layered in configuration. To please all tastes - the sweet – zabaglione, custard, raw chocolate (cocoa); and the savoury – (bone) marrow, star anise. Lingers, and certainly leaves a most appealing ‘residual’ impression for quite some time after ingestion.
1/19/2024 - Kevin07 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened Jan 2024
A great St Henri but still too early , give it 5 more years to let the development evolve . If you like them on the fresh side then go for it.
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1/5/2024 - FredericoWines Likes this wine: 93 Points
Opened this to pair with a reverse seared New York strip. Was afraid of opening it too early with less than 1 hour of decant, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed it over the hour and half at dinner. Rich and smooth with sweet tannins, which were not excessive nor bitter. Satisfying nose of red fruits and mocha. Thanks to the use of very old oak vats, it is not a tannic or jammy style typical of Australian shiraz.
No idea what the price is for current release, but I paid CAD 68 at Costco five years ago and still thought it was a good deal.
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12/10/2023 - mattscellar Likes this wine: 92 Points
3 hour decant, opened up after 5 hours. Expressive wine, and slightly ahead of a 1990 Penfolds Bin 707
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5/7/2023 - levicn wrote: 89 Points
深宝石红,闻香有青味,桉树气息,成熟黑果,入口酸度高,单宁紧涩,酒液有一点回甜,桉树的味道明显,些许烟熏质感,草本的青味混合着黑果香气,结构感不错,后段有些回苦,对我来说愉悦感稍微弱了点,在今天众多充满表现力的酒面前稍显平淡。
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3/21/2023 - Swintonblade Likes this wine: 92 Points
Tasted alongisde 2019 which had softened & drinking very well now!
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2/24/2023 - RichardZula Likes this wine:
Unbelievable, savory, olive, dark fruit, wonderful aroma, long lasting finish.
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7/17/2022 - AusWineJuan Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lovely wine. Soft tannins, well structured. Lots of gas in the tank. Luscious purple colour. American oak on the palate leading to a blackberry finish. Mocha and pepper on the mid level. Very flavourful.
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5/11/2022 - Jimmy_D wrote: 90 Points
Took a few hours to open up. Was pretty flat to begin. At the darker end of the fruit spectrum. The older oak treatment ensures there’s some enjoyment here. You can still see a bit of the house style bleeding through, but nowhere near as much as its masculine, balltearing brethren. Has some upside for the future too.
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4/17/2022 - willmark wrote: 88 Points
17th April 2022
Surprisingly dry..is it too young? Strange that it is this dry for this youthful wine..will try again soon.,
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12/30/2021 - lalandelc@gmail.com Likes this wine: 91 Points
1ere fois que je dégustais ce vin.
Je m’attendais à ce qu’il soit plus corsé (explosif), mais non, tout en finesse et avec une belle longueur !
Le nez est fruité et intense.
Très bon vin 👍🏼
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10/15/2021 - maxima wrote: 88 Points
Plus ample, plus corsé, plus extrait et
plus confituré. N'est plus dans ma palette
mais ça plait à bien du monde, c'est correct.
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8/29/2021 - PLLU Likes this wine: 95 Points
Young, complex with berry on the nose. Multi layered taste with dark fruit and strong tannins. Then leather and a light smoke in the background. Top wine with long life potential
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8/14/2021 - Psdycp wrote: 91 Points
Good purity of ripe blue and black fruits, earthy star anise, cardamon and black pepper. Very fresh raspberries on the palate which is rich and intense. Medium-bodied and polished structure after an hour in the decanter. The density of flavours flow to a supple finish. Just opening up now and will benefit from a few more years of bottle aging. 91-92 pts
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3/13/2021 - Collector1855 wrote: 94 Points
Always a reliable bottle at a good price, the 2014 rendition has lots of dark, ripe fruit, cassis, licorice with a touch of vanilla. Generous palate but within classic proportions so that it goes well with food.
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11/24/2020 - bigbass250 Likes this wine:
still very young
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10/27/2020 - wilhelmarnor Likes this wine: 95 Points
Dark, runt red with no hints of maturity.
Intense, powerful nose with blackberrys, chocolate, some vanilla.
Strong, full taste with tannins but still smooth and elegant. Long! Great future!
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5/26/2020 - bigbass250 Likes this wine:
Nice now but I think I would wait at least a couple years to drink another one.
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3/30/2020 - HPringle wrote: 92 Points
Took a two hours decant to hit its stride and when it did showed wonderfully. Ripe fruit but also restraint. Well integrated but early in its evolution. Enjoyable now with a good decant, more to come.
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11/1/2019 - peternelson wrote: 91 Points
Aged in 15 y.o. large format French oak, nice, silky, not heavy, but rich, good concentration, some tangy fruit, sort of understated Syrah, seemed to have an earthy style compared to the RWT. 3% CS. At Monopole with Zoe of Penfolds. 90-91
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9/28/2019 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
I continue to really like this wine. It's much too young and I really wish that it had more time to open up. We did decant and consume over a few hours. It's got some of the new world fruit, but so very balanced. And a nice crisp which I think the old wood plus acid tends to create. This is more about potential. If I owned these I'd be holding them.
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11/14/2018 - J.S Does not like this wine: 91 Points
Great luscious bouquet of bright red fruit.
However upon entry the party is over, the fruit seems to have magically vanished. What comes across is a smooth simple wine, nothing near what came through on the nose. Decanted for over an hour as well. The finish picks up notes of Shiraz, with slight pop, though still nothing portraying quality, or this price point. Some delicate tannin was present near the end, though again very hard to pick out.
Regardless of if this wine was considered to young to drink, any wine of this price point should be showing much more at any age then this did. Had beside a 15 389 &409, and this was just slightly ahead of the 389 due in large part to its nose.
Perhaps worth $30-$40 on a good day?
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8/12/2018 - vespasian wrote:
Relatively deep core; quite youthful on the nose and tight but the fruit that shows itself is inviting and hints at great potential; smooth already, quite plush. Builds in intensity as it opens up on the palate. Masses in reserve. Long finish. Impressive.
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3/18/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote:
Penfolds quick notes (Magill Estate Cella Door, Adelaide): Pepper, black cherry, blackberry, and some higher-toned fruit. Really chalky palate. Mouth coating.
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2/25/2018 - farinas Likes this wine: 93 Points
SobeWFF. Spends 12 months in large vats. Fruit is sourced from Barossa and McLaren but this year includes Adelaide Hills. 96/7 Shiraz Cab mix. The cooler Adelaide Hills fruit shines through on the bouquet with a floral fresh racy berries. Thick chewy tannins on the palate with hints of espresso and black pepper. Quite similar to Central coast CA Syrah.
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11/10/2017 - CamWheeler wrote: 91 Points
Festival of Alex - Penfolds Kalimna with Stephanie Dutton: Blueberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant, cherry, smoke and plums. Fine tannins with silky texture and good acidity. The fruit is well controlled, this feels nicely balanced with the power of the fruit coiled up for the moment. Very good and the potential to be better.
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10/22/2017 - travisgm wrote:
Colour
Deep garnet.
Nose
Lifted, racy. Rhône-ish at first, South Australian upon sitting.
Bountiful aromatics ascend – initially redcurrant, cranberry, Christmas cake mix, and then the liberation of citrus (lime peel), fennel and olive.
Middle Eastern spices also present – sweet, not savoury (incl. cinnamon, nutmeg). And, not unexpected, something not present - oak!
Palate
Svelte. Nevertheless, propels assertive tannins that build – sheeted/layered in configuration.
To please all tastes - the sweet – zabaglione, custard, raw chocolate (cocoa); and the savoury – (bone) marrow, star anise.
Lingers, and certainly leaves a most appealing ‘residual’ impression for quite some time after ingestion.
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