"The 1971 St Henri is rather surprisingly looking a little fresher than the same vintage of Grange. It displays a deep brick color and pronounced coffee, earth, allspice and menthol notes with a loam and Chinese five spice undercurrent plus some old leather. Crisp in the mouth with medium-firm fine-grained tannins, it is concentrated, complex and quite gamey / meaty in the long finish. A sweaty saddle and iodine character begins to overwhelm over time in the glass, but it is still very good."

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, In Asia 2012, eRobertParker.com


"Strong colour. Aromas of raspberry, licorice, leather, spice and earth. Utterly captivating smell. On the palate smooth red fruits, earth, leather. Still holding great fruit. Perfect harmony. Beautifully long. A magnificent bottle. St Henri is the king of Australian shiraz. 98 points"

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, 17 August 2006

"At the Penfolds Rewards of Patience tastings in 2007 there was an old wine that quite captured me. Of course, when you’re running through over 100 wines per day (after which you’re forced to drink Rosemount quaffers over dinner) there’s not much time to get lost in the moment, and all these precious old rarities are then just spat out … or else you’ll be under the table by 10.30am. Seems like a monumental waste of the rare, and a wistful example of useless beauty. The wine that captured me, fleetingly, was the 1971 St Henri shiraz. I’ve since found myself a bottle and gave it a run last week.
At the Penfolds tasting I wrote this: ’1971: Far out. Characterised by its length. Equisite, and flavoursome, tannin. Game, leather, spice, smoke, cigars, the whole bleedin’ bag. Even has some ferrous notes. Interesting, and hugely persistent. L-e-n-g-t-h-y. Drink to 2019. 96 points.’

The bottle I had last weekend, which was entirely consumed, was another great bottle and I’d give it around the 97 point mark – great old wines are almost always better when allowed to sing solo. This one was far more licoricey – fresh fruit, in a 37 year old Australian red – though it was similarly lengthy and arrestingly (importantly) complex. It was outstanding in quality and (arguably) a mesmerising drink, that got conversation going. This bottle was consumed the day I finished Tim Winton’s book ‘Breath’. The last line of the book refers to activities that are ‘pointless and beautiful’ but which require ‘ no explanation’ of their worth. Drinking this St Henri seemed apt. I mentioned this sentiment as we consumed the wine and before long, it was on for young and old as to whether this book is any good."

Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, 3 October 2008

Rated : 97 Points
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2000 - 2019