Penfolds St Henri Shiraz Gift Box Lunar New Year Horse Edition (750 ml)

While Max Schubert was building Grange on new American oak hogsheads in the 1950s, St Henri took the opposite path — large, seasoned old oak vats that contribute no wood tannin and no vanilla extract, leaving Barossa Shiraz to speak entirely through fruit and site. That deliberate refusal of new oak remains St Henri's defining transgression within the Penfolds portfolio to this day.

The 2021 vintage draws on Barossa Valley fruit grown in the region's characteristically ancient, deep alluvial and sandy loam soils — phylloxera-free ground that forces vines to root deep, concentrating flavour while moderating vigour. The warm continental climate of the valley floor delivers the mid-palate generosity the house style demands, while the old-vat regime preserves a freshness that new-oak programs would suppress.

Vinification follows Penfolds' acclimatised pure yeast culture protocol in temperature-controlled fermenters. Post-fermentation, the wine enters large old oak vats — no percentage of new wood, no barrique influence — allowing extended maturation without the structural intervention that defines Grange or Bin 707. The result is a Shiraz whose tannin architecture comes entirely from grape skin contact, not cooperage.

St Henri is the only wine in the Penfolds red portfolio that categorically excludes new oak at every stage, making it the house's purest expression of Barossa Shiraz fruit. The 2021 Lunar New Year Horse Edition presents the wine in gift packaging; drinking window 2024–2035.