The second of seven wines in the Australian Shiraz flight at the Toronto WS Offline last night.

Crystal clear dark ruby red. Red/black crushed sweet fruit. Medium-full bodied with red fruit and a moderate finish. 86 points.

futronic,
I agree with you that the RWT is in general a better wine than the St. Henri, although comparing a '99 to a '98 is a bit unfair. For some reason, however, the St. Henri always gets better press. Go figure.

I agree, perhaps it wasn't fair, but the RWT was head and shoulders above the St. Henri. As I mentioned in my other note, the RWT was my WOTF.

The St. Henri is made a very specific way using humongous older barrells. It's normally a lighter bodied wine with the hopes of getting the terrior out of the soil rather than complexity out of the barrells.

It can however age ten years fairly easily in a good year per the winemakers.

St Henri rarely shows well when its young. The 86 is drinking beautifully now as is the 91, both excellent vintages where the wine will last for many more years.

Even the 93 which is a poor vintage only entered its drinking window at 8 years of age and I am no hurry to drink my remaining stock. If you haven't tried and aged St Henri, believe me you have no idea how good this wine really is, its very deceptive when young.

TORB,

I understand your point, but you would think with two hours of decanting plus more time in the glass, it would show a little bit more.

Futronic,

In a word no!

Every time I used to try a mature St Henri i used to love it and go wow, why don't I have any in my cellar and the answer was simple. Because I used to taste them when they were young and buy something else instead. So now I don't taste them when they are young knowing its a complete waste of time and buy them and bury them till they are 10 years old. The good vintages will go 20!

TORB, this was poured at a tasting, so don't shoot me for drinking it.

Dark ruby colour to a violet rim. Fat, thick, slow legs. Aromas of vanilla, brown sugar, and blackberry. Medium-full bodied with black plums, currant, and violets. Tannins already integrated. Moderate finish, ~25s with blueberry notes. 87 points (11/09/2004).

Is this a case of "bless me father for I have sinned but I didnt really sin cause someone else did"?

Something like that.

TORB - looks like this keeps improving with age, exactly as you said:

Dark ruby/black colour; opaque. Aromas of grape bubblegum, pepper, and spice. Medium-full bodied, with spice, pepper, and black fruit. Moderate finish, 30s, with black fruit. 90 points (10/22/2005).

I was about to pull out a 96 to see how it was going at 10 years of age (I tried the first from a dozen a few years back) and decided to leave it for another 5 years. In good years, these are glorious wine with 15-25 years of age on them and I have had some at close to 40 that were still bloody good.