Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Style: Red Wine
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Closure: Cork
Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Camberwell
Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124
Australia
Critic Score: 100
Alcohol: 13.5%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: 2045
Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
First planted in the mid-1880s, the 10-acre Block 42Block 42 comprises the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines in Australia and, for that matter, the world. Block 42 is a remarkable piece of viticultural dirt that contributes essential blending material for both Grange and Bin 707. However, on six separate occasions, the fruit produced from this block has been considered exceptional enough to be bottled as a single vineyard wine; the only Grange Cabernet Sauvignon in 1953, the Bin 64 Cabernet Sauvignon in 1963, the first Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon in 1996 and now the second Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon in 2004.
"This is phenomenal, with game, meat, deer and fruit. Black truffles. Wild fruit. Insane. Black and green olives. Full bodied, with big velvety tannins and a long, long finish. Amazing sliced meat and fruit character. Fabulous wine that just blows me away and makes me think of great pre-phyloxera Bordeaux of 1864 and 1865." James Suckling
"Vines from this block have weathered 120 winters and periodically we have the privilege to create a stand alone measure of its worth. There is something really magical about the 2004 Block 42. It has an ethereal dimension and a saturated blackness on the palate that reveals the true class of this vineyard site. The wine is extraordinarily perfumed with layer upon layer of flavour. The wine will last for decades in the cellar." Peter Gago, Penfolds Chief winemaker
Expert reviews
"Deep crimson. Intense blackcurrant, leafy herb and sage aromas with dark chocolate and mocha notes. A faint hint of mint and eucalypt. Dense and ripe blackcurrant, cassis and mulberry fruits, sage and leafy leather characters. Fine, dense and compact grainy cedar tannins, liquorice, roasted walnut and graphite notes. Finishes leafy firm yet chocolaty sweet. Barossa and cabernet sauvignon in total alignment. Drink: Now-2045." Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
"This is phenomenal, with game, meat, deer and fruit. Black truffles. Wild fruit. Insane. Black and green olives. Full bodied, with big velvety tannins and a long, long finish. Amazing sliced meat and fruit character. Fabulous wine that just blows me away and makes me think of great pre-phyloxera Bordeaux of 1864 and 1865. From vines in the mid-1880s. About 10 acres. 500 cases. Screwcap." James Suckling, Jamessuckling.com - 100 points
"A smooth and effortless cabernet that is as close to perfection as a warm climate cabernet will ever become. Its ethereal, wild and heady perfume is surely cabernet’s equivalent of pinot noir. Deep aromas of cassis, black cherries, mulberries, dark plums, blackberries and smoky, cedary oak overlie a hint of tobacco and chocolate. Deeply concentrated, its plush, smooth and pliant palate of deep fruit effortlessly integrates with firm, fine-grained tannin and assertive, balanced new oak. A brilliant exercise in strength and control. Drink 2034-2044+." Jeremy Oliver - 98 points
"It is crammed with intense blackcurrant, cassis and dark chocolate/earth fruit, the tannins long, supple and silky. Full on Penfolds blood lines and complex beyond belief. Points are meaningless: 97 to 100, who cares?" James Halliday – (97-100) points
"The very special 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon is the first release of a wine made purely from this 100+ year old single block since 1996. It’s not known exactly when the Kalimna Block 42 was planted but there are suggestions that the vines existed during the latter part of the 19th Century. They could be the oldest Cabernet vines in the world, although the famous Metala Cabernet vineyard in Langhorne Creek was known to have been planted in 1891 so could very well pre-date Kalimna. Regardless, I’ve been there and the vines are truly old. Only very rarely does Penfolds release this as a single vineyard wine, when the Cabernet is so fabulous it can’t possibly be blended. The 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon was such a vintage. Matured in 100% new American hogsheads for 13 months, it displays a very deep garnet-purple color and profoundly earthy/gamey aromas over black cherry preserves, creme de cassis plus scents of leather, pencil shavings, Mediterranean herbs, black truffles, underbrush and black olives. The elegant, medium-bodied palate is tightly-knit and led by structure with a high level of grainy tannins, very high acid and a long earthy finish. Approachable now, it should continue to evolve and drink to 2025+." Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate - 97 points
"There were not enough outstanding Block 42 grapes in a vintage to bottle separately without losing the essence of Bin 707 until 1996. That wine is a beauty. It's big, still tastes incredibly youthful, and promises great things as it develops further. If anything, the 2004 is even better because it's more elegant, the product of a Barossa vintage in which purity of fruit character seems to be the hallmark. To keep that character, the wine only saw 13 months in barrel. Often, Barossa reds are big and gooey, offering ripe, sometimes overripe, flavors, as in hot vintages such as 2001 and 2003. Many wines from the very cool 2002 vintage taste underripe, and with Cabernet that means minty, herbal or vegetal character.
The beauty of 2004 is apparent in the Block 42, which I expect to be among the greatest wines of the vintage, and in my book, the best straight Cabernet Australia has ever made. I was absolutely floored by it when I tasted it in Australia earlier this year, not because of its size but because of its gorgeous flavors, elegance and incredible length. Tasted blind in the Wine Spectator tasting room in San Francisco, it had all of the same characteristics.
Here's my note: Delicious stuff, not huge but impeccably balanced, nuanced and tremendously long and pure, a cascade of currant, blueberry and plum fruit shaded on one side by subtle, toasty oak, on the other by hints of minerality and exotic spice. But it's the elegance and the length that make this a winner." Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator - 97 points
"Amazingly saturated deep purple-red colour, astonishing nose of meaty superripe fruit, not especially cabbish and certainly not at all leafy. Astonishing power and density, structure and fleshiness. Amazing wine indeed. A blockbuster. Great wine, and only a modest 13.5% alcohol. Drink in five years and until 40+ years." Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 97 points
"Essencey nose; like a long slow boiled-down essence of blackberry and blackcurrant. Amazing wine. Huge flavour and structure; a Colossus of Rhodes. Needs ages. Best in 10 to 35+ years. A 50-year wine?" Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 97 points
"Tasted at the Fine Wine Experience 'Dream Fourteen' tasting with Peter Gago. Sourced directly from Penfolds’ library reserves, the Kalimna Block 42 has a deep garnet/purple core. A huge, ostentatious bouquet: macerated black cherries, orange liqueur, over-ripe tangerines and a touch of cloves. You just want it to calm down but you will have to wait a decade. The palate is full-bodied with chewy tannins, a touch of spice, exuberant summer fruits, a touch of fresh fig. Bizarrely there is a flavour profile that reminds me of a Tokaji Essenzia on the finish and yet I cannot deny that this wine is beautifully balanced. Decadent, brazen, outrageous and downright sexy. Drink 2020-2040+ Tasted October 2009. Drink 2020-2040." Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate - 97 points
"The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Block 42 Kalimna (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) spent 13 months in 100% new 300 liter American hogsheads. The result is an opaque purple-colored Cabernet displaying a gorgeously intense perfume of graphite, acacia flowers, black truffles, blueberries, and blackberries. It is seamless, full-bodied, and opulent, with amazing intensity as well as high tannin levels. The latter component is largely concealed by a sensational cascade of fruit and glycerin. This remarkable wine should age gracefully for 20-25 years. Drink 2006-2031." Robert Parker Jr, The Wine Advocate - 96+ points
"It’s a beautiful wine. Crazy with floral, violetty dynamics, crashingly curranty and blisteringly pure, with exceptional fruit brightness and definition. It will likely take, like the 1996 Block 42, a decade or three to reach a complex maturity, but its destiny as a 'great' of the Penfolds line seems assured. Exquisite fruit purity but with gamey, meaty complexity. Bottled under cork and screwcap. Drink 2017-2035." Cambpell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 96 points
Awards
Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
Peter Gago
The following text is taken from an article by Ken Gargett in Quill & Pad, https://quillandpad.com
Peter Gago has what many people in the wine world think is the best job on the planet. He is chief winemaker for Penfolds, based in South Australia and one of Australia’s oldest wine producers.
Max Schubert created Grange with the experimental first wine, the 1951, after he returned from Bordeaux and wanted to establish an Aussie First Growth. The story of Grange has been told many times, and as fascinating as it is I won’t rehash it again. Schubert ruled at Penfolds right through to the 1976 vintage, when he handed the reins to Don Ditter. Ditter made the wines right through to the 1986 vintage when John Duval stepped up. Duval was chief winemaker until the 2002 vintage, when he left to do his own thing, very successfully.
Since that time, Peter Gago has been the chief winemaker. It should be noted that although the role of chief winemaker at Penfolds will always be inextricably linked with Grange, there are a great many other wines in the portfolio for which this position assumes ultimate responsibility.
Alongside the winemaking, in which he is still heavily involved, a usual week in non-Covid times sees Gago flying around the world to tastings, dinners, events, festivals, and promotions. I suspect that only David Attenborough (outside of pilots and crew) has racked up more flying miles. I remember seeing him one day when he seemed even more pleased with the world than usual. Turns out he’d just run into his wife, Gail, now retired but a long-term and highly regarded member of the South Australian parliament, at the airport. Gago had not been aware that they would both be in the same country that week, let alone cross paths, such is his usual peripatetic lifestyle.
Gago has friends and admirers all around the globe, from the rich and famous to young, aspiring wine lovers, and will spend time talking to them all. I suspect that if he wanted to start dropping names, the din would reverberate for days, but you could not find a humbler man. Gago is a serious music buff and you’d be amazed at the number of rock stars who revere him, much in the way their fans might do for them (for instance, after crawling over broken glass to get a ticket to a Bruce Springsteen concert I saw Gago sitting in prime seats with Springsteen’s family, after which they went for dinner and knocked off a few bottles of Grange).
Gago is probably as close to a rock star himself in the world of wine, although perhaps more modest rather than flamboyant. And I have no idea if he can sing.
The thing that most amazes me with Gago is that every time you talk to him, he is bubbling with genuine enthusiasm, not just for Grange but for all his wines. He just loves what he is doing. One gets the feeling that every morning he wakes up and pinches himself to make sure it is real.
Among his many attributes, Gago has the gift of the gab like few others. Only once have I ever seen him lost for words and caught off guard. Many years ago, at the annual release – held in a very fancy location near the shores of Sydney Harbor; it is always a fancy location somewhere and also always includes great champagne to kick off the day as Gago is fanatical about the world’s best bubbles – the then current chairman or CEO of whichever corporate entity was then the owner of Penfolds attended the day. Forgive me for my failure to remember just where the corporate snakes and ladders left Penfolds that day and for failing to remember the relevant gentleman’s name. He had only been appointed as a temporary executive while the search for a more permanent one was ongoing, but unlike any of the CEOs before and after, this man had a genuine interest and came to a couple of tastings to learn.
Anyway, as we sipped our champagne on the lawns overlooking Sydney Harbor and chatted, our friend suddenly posed a question to Gago. He had been meaning to ask, he said, just how much Grange the company made. There were five or six writers in this little group and suddenly, every single one of us had pad and pen poised. The production of Grange is a national secret that is not to be disclosed under pain of death (general consensus puts it at, depending on the vintage, between 5,000 and 15,000 cases, with most releases in the mid range, but this is pure speculation).
Gago was at a loss. The boss of bosses had just asked him a direct question and Gago is far too polite not to answer but knew he couldn’t give that information out in public. He managed a fair bit of mumbling and generalizations and I think he suggested they meet later. Pads and pens all went back into bags, and we could not help grinning while Gago looked like he’d just swallowed a bad oyster.
Gago was born in England in 1957, but his family moved to Melbourne when he was only six years of age. Originally a math teacher (teaching is still a passion), he undertook a science degree at the University of Melbourne and then attended Roseworthy College, a famous Australian winemaking college, graduating as Dux (the highest ranking academic performance -ed), which will surprise no one.
In 1989 he joined Penfolds as a sparkling winemaker, working with Ed Carr, who has established a career in sparkling wine (now with Arras) as successful as Gago’s is with table wines. He moved to reds and quickly rose through the ranks until succeeding Duval in 2002. In the 73 years since Schubert was first appointed, Gago is only the fourth chief winemaker.
During his tenure, he has stacked up an extraordinary array of bling, as has Penfolds under his stewardship (Gago heads a team of eight winemakers for table wines and a couple more for fortifieds). He has several “Winemaker of the Year” awards from different entities and publications, both from Australia and abroad, but the accolades go well beyond that.
In 2017, in what is termed “the Queen’s Birthday Honors List,” he was awarded the highly prestigious Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for service to the wine industry. For non-Aussies, that is a big one! A year later, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia and named the Great Wine Capitals Ambassador for South Australia.
Very recently, Gago was awarded perhaps the most prestigious honor of all in the wine world: admission to the Decanter Hall of Fame (previously they honored the Decanter Man – or Woman – of the Year, but that changed). Decanter is a highly respected English wine magazine that established its hall of fame in 1984 with Serge Hochar from Château Musar in Lebanon the first recipient. There is only a single addition per year. Gago is the fourth Australian following Max Schubert in 1988, Len Evans in 1997, and Brian Croser in 2004. That two of the four chief winemakers from a single producer have made this list (Schubert and Gago) is unprecedented but shows just where Penfolds sits in the pantheon of wine producers around the globe.
And should you still remain unconvinced then take a moment to look at some of the names Gago has joined: Parker, Spurrier, Tchelistcheff, Robinson, Moueix, de Villaine, Antinori, Lichine, Gaja, Symington, Loosen, Guigal, Torres, Draper, Peynaud, Mondavi, and so many more. There is no question that the name Peter Gago sits very comfortably alongside them all.
What is most important is that across the board the Penfolds wines have never been better, and while it is a team effort, in the end we can thank Gago.
About the winery
After the success of early sherries and fortified wines, founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold planted the vine cuttings they had carried on their voyage over to Australia. In 1844 the fledging vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at Magill Estate.
As the company grew, so too did Dr Penfold's medical reputation, leaving much of the running of the winery to Mary Penfold. Early forays into Clarets and Rieslings proved increasingly popular, and on Christopher's death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. Mary's reign at the helm of Penfolds saw years of determination and endeavour.
By the time Mary Penfold retired in 1884 (ceding management to her daughter, Georgina) Penfolds was producing 1/3 of all South Australia's wine. She'd set an agenda that continues today, experimenting with new methods in wine production. By Mary's death in 1896, the Penfolds legacy was well on its way to fruition. By 1907, Penfolds had become South Australia's largest winery.
In 1948, history was made again as Max Schubert became the company's first Chief Winemaker. A loyal company man and true innovator, Schubert would propel Penfolds onto the global stage with his experimentation of long-lasting wines - the creation of Penfolds Grange in the 1950s.
In 1959 (while Schubert was perfecting his Grange experiment in secret), the tradition of ‘bin wines' began. The first, a Shiraz wine with the grapes of the company's own Barossa Valley vineyards was simply named after the storage area of the cellars where it is aged. And so Kalimna Bin 28 becomes the first official Penfolds Bin number wine.
In 1960, the Penfolds board instructed Max Schubert to officially re-start production on Grange. His determination and the quality of the aged wine had won them over.
Soon, the medals began flowing and Grange quickly became one of the most revered wines around the world. In 1988 Schubert was named Decanter Magazine's Man of the Year, and on the 50th anniversary of its birth, Penfolds Grange was given a heritage listing in South Australia.
Despite great success, Penfolds never rests on its laurels. In 2012 Penfolds released its most innovative project to date - 12 handcrafted ampoules of the rare 2004 Kalimna Block Cabernet Sauvignon.
Two years later, Penfolds celebrated the 170th anniversary – having just picked up a perfect score of 100 for the 2008 Grange in two of the world's most influential wine magazines. Today, Penfolds continues to hold dear the philosophies and legends – '1844 to evermore!'.
South Australia
South Australian is responsible for more than half the production of all Australian wine. It is home to more than 900 wineries across 18 wine regions. The regions are Adelaide Hills, Adelaide Plains, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Currency Creek, Eden Valley, Kangaroo Island, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Mount Benson, Mount Gambier, Padthaway, Riverland, Robe, Southern Fleurieu, Southern Flinders Ranges and Wrattonbully.
Many of the well-known names in the South Australian wine industry established their first vineyards in the late 1830s and early 1840s. The first vines in McLaren Vale were planted at Reynella in 1839 and Penfold's established Magill Estate on the outskirts of Adelaide in 1844.
South Australia has a vast diversity in geography and climate which allows the State to be able to produce a range of grape varieties - from cool climate Riesling in the Clare and Eden Vallies to the big, full bodied Shiraz wines of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Two of Australia's best-known wines, Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace, are produced here. There is much to discover in South Australia for the wine lover.