2001 Penfold's St. Henri Shiraz

Readers of this blog who pay close attention to detail will note that the St. Henri is listed as one of my favorite wines over in the "My Favorites Wines" section to the right. So of course I was happy to see that Ben had brought over a 2001 Penfold's St. Henri Shiraz to drink last night. We were celebrating, um... Wednesday?

The 2001 is a great vintage for this wine, and Ben's bottle was nice and dusty indicating it had been sitting, undisturbed, in his wine cellar for the last six years. And I know he keeps his Penfold's wines well refrigerated. The wine had aged nicely, but was no where near the end of its lifetime by any means. It was a nice dark purple you expect from the Aussies and had that nice, earthy richness that is characteristic of these wines. It smelled and tasted of dark fruits, with almost no oak at all.

Some places, notably Whole Foods, have been charging ridiculous amounts of money for this wine--upwards of $70. Wine sellers that haven't lost their minds have this closer to $35-$40. I know Garagiste has gotten shipments for as low as $20 / bottle. So, keep your eyes open and shop around on this one.