Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2019
Style: Red Wine
Variety: Shiraz
Closure: Screwcap
Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2019
Warehouse
34 Redland Drive
Vermont VIC 3133
Australia
Critic Score: 98
Alcohol: 14.5%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: 2050
Penfolds RWT Shiraz presents an admirable alternative to the multi-regional sourcing and American oak maturation that are hallmarks of Grange, expressing instead, single-region Barossa Valley Shiraz matured only in French oak. The initials RWT stand for 'Red Winemaking Trial', the name given to the project internally when developmental work began in 1995. Naturally, now no longer a 'Trial' RWT Shiraz was launched in May 2000 with the 1997 vintage. Its style is opulent and fleshy, contrasting with Grange, which is more muscular and assertive.
"Touted as being a lieutenant to Grange when the inaugural 1997 vintage was first released, this wine lives up to its lofty reputation. Inky shiraz with cassis, charcuterie, black berry, dark chocolate, liquorice and Christmas cake characters are just the beginning. Restrained by assertive tannins that are a tactile guarantee of ageing potential. This wine defines complex." Bob Campbell MW
RWT is typically inky and deep in colour, with sumptuous fruit sweetness, mouth-filling flavours, underlying spice, savoury nuances and chocolaty tannins. The wine is matured in new and seasoned French oak for around 12 to 15 months. The result is a wine that helps to redefine Barossa shiraz at the highest quality level.
The 2019 Penfolds RWT Shiraz is a 100% shiraz from premium vineyards in the Barossa Valley. The wine was matured for 18 months in French oak hogsheads, 57% new, 43% one-year-old.
"The aromatic stage is set – a distinctive Barossa backdrop with respectful Penfolds lighting. Cured meats embalmed in balsamic, anchovy paste and flowering thyme aromas. Structurally confident - a defined backbone, Barossa weight and density. Peak drinking 2025 to 2050." Penfolds
Expert reviews
"Deep crimson. Lovely intense dark cherry, blackberry, mulberry praline aromas with ginger notes. Classical in structure yet Penfoldsian in character with dense dark cherry, blackberry dark chocolate flavours, plentiful fine chalky/ graphite tannins, superbly integrated roasted chestnut vanilla oak and underlying cedar complexity. Finishes al-dente firm with beautiful mineral length and bitter-sweet notes. Superb fruit density and torque. Drink 2025-2045.” Andrew Caillard MW - 98 points
"Very deep red/purple colour. Profound aromas of roasted nuts, smoked meats, graphite earthiness, iron-stoniness, tar, a hint of blackberry jam. The palate is very full-bodied and broad, a wide-bodied wine with masses of tannins that coat the entire palate. An exotic, decadent wine with hints of surmaturité, opulent to its very long finish. There's more grip, grunt and rusticity than the Magill, but it's just as good in its way. It's a great foil and contrast for the Magill. Drink: 2023–2046." Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 98 points
"Touted as being a lieutenant to Grange when the inaugural 1997 vintage was first released, this wine lives up to its lofty reputation. Inky shiraz with cassis, charcuterie, black berry, dark chocolate, liquorice and Christmas cake characters are just the beginning. Restrained by assertive tannins that are a tactile guarantee of ageing potential. This wine defines complex. Drink: 2021–2049." Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review - 98 points
"Arguably the most dramatic of the collection's releases this year, this shiraz is all stops out, turbo charger on, power chords played, yet with precision and accuracy delivering an exciting aromatic introduction then sustained and reverberating interest. Think the most enticing bakery smells of berry tarts, fruit cake, then flint (with a tiny lift of VA), morphing into the French oak influences of cedar, capers and sandalwood – all of which the Penfolds team has noted as well in their own tasting assessments. The matrix within the wine is what compels – complex yet intricate, full-bodied yet pliable and enticing. Indulgent yet convincing." Tony Love, Wine Pilot - 97 points
"Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections and subtle brightening on the rim. Very seductive bouquet with fine nougat, patisserie notes, black olive, dark forest berries, a hint of cardamom and arancini and fine bourbon vanilla in the background. Juicy and elegant with ripe tannins and very good freshness, already amazingly approachable. There is a touch of liquorice and saltiness on the finish. It seems relatively light on its feet and will no doubt benefit from bottle age. (2025 to 2050)." Falstaff - 97 points
"Longtime readers will know of my personal fondness for this wine, going back nearly to its first vintage, the 1997. That said, the 2019 RWT Shiraz Bin 798 continues this wine's impressive run, artfully combining hedonistic waves of mixed fruit with the balancing and structural effects of 18 months in French oak hogsheads (57% new, with the balance second-fill). Dark chocolate and vanilla notes join blackberries and plums on the concentrated, full-bodied palate, picking up hints of coffee, black olives and licorice on the long, silky-textured finish. This should easily age up to two decades." Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate - 96 points
"The depth of big bass notes shows the presence of Marananga fruit in the rich blend, rounding out a completely seductive portrait of Shiraz. It's highly fragrant, with notes of sage over redcurrant and lush purple berries, while the rich mid-palate rolls effortlessly in the mouth, before elegant oak binds it all to ensure a dry, savoury finish. Its easy marriage of style and substance is most alluring." David Sly, Decanter – 96 points
"Rich and succulent, oozing with milk chocolate, salted caramel and kirsch flavors, with dense and toothsome tannins that are polished and refined. Blackberry and spiced plum flavors show clove, cumin and white pepper accents, with a sweet note of spearmint lingering on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2045." MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator - 96 points
"A strident RWT with a regional signature of tar and coal smoke to the ripe plums and blackberries. Such intense, ripe dark-plum and blackberry drive on powerful, deep-set tannins that run long through the finish. Contained power. Drink over the next decade." Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com – 96 points
"Blackish purple. Intensely high-toned but tight – not opulent – as though it's desperately trying to be serious! On the nose, it would be fun to slide this in to a blind tasting of young Hermitages! Smooth as silk!!! Maybe that should be Guigal Côte Rôties rather than Hermitages… As with the Bin 707, I could drink this tonight, despite knowing it will blossom into something even more complex and has quite enough tannin under that glorious fruit to develop over many years. Obviously the dry finish mandates some assertive food with this. Scrummy. Or should I say delicious as I think 'scrummy' was rather derided last time I used it? Great balance and nothing over the top." Jancis Robinson MW – 18/20 points
"Super-premium shiraz, in intent and in the glass. Powerful to the point of portiness, indeed it's almost tokay-like, with tea leaves and malt, plum and roasted nut characters woven into licorice, cedar and sweet blackberry. All the feels. All the things. This is steadfastly unsubtle. If it was a meal you wouldn't slice it, you'd axe it. It's so powerful, it hums. It's going places but not in a hurry. Drink : 2026 - 2034+." Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 95 points
"A smooth operator, RWT impresses with its depth of Barossan intensity and shiraz fruit concentration. It's packed tight from aroma to flavour with layers of dusty black berries, warm earth, sage and thyme, a touch savoury, too. But, above all, the wine is all about an abiding Barossa DNA: a boldness, density, with a lasting impact. Once, such a wine from Penfolds would have been dressed in American oak but under French oak the accent is more polished. It's glossy and smooth, supple tannins running the line and length. The winemaker suggests a peak drinking window from 2025 to 2050. I think I would be calling it a little earlier, just to be sure." Jeni Port, Wine Pilot – 95 points
"Black blue in colour with a purple edge. This has noticeable oak at the moment, to the extent that it embalms the fruit a little more than one would wish, but it is early days and this will surely resolve itself. Black fruits, coffee grinds, a hint of salami, mulberries, soy. Good intensity, but at the moment, too tightly wound, too closed. This needs a lot of time. More time than I can recall an RWT needing at this early stage. Still, if one can provide that time then the wait will be rewarded. Coiled power on the palate. Firm, quite solid tannins. Good length. For me at this stage, while it is obviously a very fine wine, it is a fractional one-dimensional. Even a touch chunky. But this is nothing that time will not resolve. Today, 95 for me, but no other wine in the Collection has more room for improvement." Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 95 points
The story of rwt
Penfolds RWT Bin 798 Barossa Valley Shiraz, first made in 1997, was released after several years of red winemaking trials from which the wine takes its name. Since the 2014 vintage it has been allocated Bin number 798, based on the alpha-numeric telephone punch dial, to reflect its established status within the Penfolds wine portfolio.
The fruit is sourced exclusively from the best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, where ripening conditions particularly suit the Penfolds House Style. These include the Kalimna, Koonunga Hill, Moppa, Marananga and Ebenezer vineyards. The overall winemaking process is almost identical to Grange, however, unlike Grange, it is matured only in French oak. The maturation includes partial barrel fermentation for 12 to 15 months in 50-70% new French oak hogsheads (300 litres). These wines are built for the long haul, with the precision, concentration and balance to age for many years – the best vintages will last at least 30.
"RWT Bin 798 celebrates Barossa bloodlines and the graceful elegance of French oak. This is no longer a trial but a stand-alone Penfolds red that embodies regional provenance and now has its own track record" Andrew Baldwin, Winemaker
"An ode to the Barossa with all that beautiful power and depth." Nick Ryan, Penfolds Rewards of Patience tasting panel member
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.