Trophy, Best Wine of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Trophy, Best White Wine of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Trophy, Best Chardonnay of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2018
Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay was first released in 1994, with fruit sourced from the Adelaide Hills and Tumbarumba. It has since evolved into a wine that is now a distinctive, single-region wine from the Adelaide Hills. Fruit is sourced from 10 key vineyards, all owned by independent growers. "The Reserve Bin A Chardonnay has all the great characters of Grand Cru chardonnay, but it's very much from South Australia." Kym Schroeter, Penfolds White Winemaker.
"Generous and creamy with grapefruit, apricot, white peach stone fruit flavours, light marzipan, flinty notes and underlying savoury oak complexity; all intertwined with fine lacy textures, crisp acidity and superb mineral length. This is absolutely at the cutting edge of Australian Chardonnay. An exquisite balance of fruit definition, texture and mouthwatering freshness. Delicious wine. Move over Puligny." Andrew Caillard MW
The Reserve Bin A Chardonnay is sourced from a number of vineyards in Adelaide Hills, particularly those located in Birdwood, Balhannah, Piccadilly, Woodside, Morialta and Gumeracha. Most of the vineyards lie along a long stretch of varied, cool micro-climates along higher elevations in the hills. The wine centres specifically on 10 key vineyards, all owned by independent growers. Yields are kept low, at around three to four tonnes per hectare, to maximise flavour development and balance.
Fruit is hand-picked into small bins and then whole-bunch pressed. Typically, the wine is naturally fermented in new and one-year-old tightly-grained French oak barriques and then allowed to go through 100 percent malolactic fermentation to achieve further integration of fruit and oak. Some parcels are purposely sulphite-influenced/fermented on solids with wild yeasts. At the end of fermentation, the wines are regularly stirred on their lees to bring more richness and depth of flavour. Once regarded as extreme winemaking practices, these techniques are now considered quite standard in achieving heightened complexity, flavours and texture.
"The 2017 Reserve Bin A Chardonnay was matured for eight months in French oak barriques (40% new).
Nose: Archetypical Adelaide Hills – ostensibly white stone fruits peach and nectarine. Sensitive batonnage of yeast lees has coaxed out a complexing nuttiness – assorted cashew, almond and Brazil nut with an ever so slight trace of nutmeg. Latent wafts of sulphide/struck match (almost) bring closure, until a beguiling mortar and pestle, (brine) ground oyster shell scent tip toes across the finish line.
Palate: Unravels in the glass to reveal an enthralling and multi-dimensional package – line, depth, weight. A 'big' wine, certainly not shy in character! Big? Voluminous, yet controlled – restraint/precision wrestling with energy/tension. No losers. Hints of citrus and nashi pear with the reported 40% of new oak totally absorbed, barely noticeable. Checked? Yes, 40% new! Impressively well-integrated and complex! " Penfolds
Expert reviews
"Pale gold. Slaty, flinty nectarine and grapefruit aromas with vanilla grilled nut notes. Supple and sweet with pink grapefruit, white apricot, nectarine fruits, fine slight al dente textures, attractive mid-palate creaminess/richness, underlying savoury and long fresh acidity. Still minerally and fresh. Drink now to 2038." Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
"Hand-picked, wild fermentation and 100% mlf in French barriques (40% new). Easy to see how it swept all before it at the Sydney Wine Show '18, Superb gravitas, chiselled like a marble Roman statue. Amazing poise and length, acidity the key to the kingdom. Drink by 2027." James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 98 points and Top 100 Wines of 2018 and Special Value Wine ★
"Pale colour. Highly evocative wine with intense grapefruit, white apricot flinty aromas with grilled nut complexity. Generous and creamy with grapefruit, apricot, white peach stone fruit flavours, light marzipan, flinty notes and underlying savoury oak complexity; all intertwined with fine lacy textures, crisp acidity and superb mineral length. This is absolutely at the cutting edge of Australian Chardonnay. An exquisite balance of fruit definition, texture and mouthwatering freshness. Delicious wine. Move over Puligny. 98 points Drink Now – 2030." Andrew Caillard MW - 98 points
"A cooler vintage for the Adelaide Hills and one that has delivered much in the way of high-quality chardonnay. This has a very striking nose of peaches, nectarines, grapefruit pith and beeswax with nicely played, hazelnut-flavored oak. The reduction is appealingly flinty and delivers direct complexity. The palate is briny with succulent peach, nectarine and biscuit flavors and an array of citrus at its core. There's a long, clear burst of fine, powerful fruit at the finish. An excellent vintage for this wine. Drink or hold." Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com – 97 points
"A sublime chardonnay and a great example of modern Australian chardonnay: superfine, intense, crystal-purity and subtle complexity which is building gradually as the wine slowly matures. Cool-year style. Sheer magic. Drink: 2021–2032." Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 97 points
"Penfolds whites are kicking goals and none more than this delight which just scored the major trophies at the recent Royal Sydney Wine Show. Whole bunch-pressed, part natural ferment, and amazing 40 per cent new oak that just gets soaked up and now adds a delightfully sophisticated oak/cashew/flint set of characters to ripe, white stone fruits so typical of Hills chardonnay. A wine worth spending quality time over to reveal futher exotic spices and delicate saline notes. Fabulous local hero chardonnay. Make the investment at least once." Tony Love - 97 points
"Adelaide Hills. Superstar chardonnay. Eight months in oak, 40% new. It's a complex web we weave. Where the 311 is about dryness and length, this is about funk and flamboyance. It's dry too but it marshals a sizeable volume of flavour through the palate; this really sets the glass alight. Ginger, sulphides, white peach, oakspice, fabulous nectarine and toast. Undeniable quality. Drink: 2019 - 2025." Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 96 points
Awards
Trophy, Best Wine of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Trophy, Best White Wine of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Trophy, Best Chardonnay of Show - 2018 Royal Sydney Wine Show
Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel 2021 - 5/5 rating
James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2018
Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion ★
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!'.