With the 2017 St Henri Shiraz; my first two tasting note words on the day, "Okay, Wow." It is a highlight of the 2020 collection and an increasingly relevant shiraz style and it has so much going on in its deep, dark fascinations. To see this wine without any of the oakiness of its family siblings is to truly see it - a wine worth dwelling on. There is so much going on here, so much power with supreme grace. This 2017 vintage informs us why St Henri is so revered

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. Drink by 2047.

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.

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. Drink: 2021-2045