Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2021
Style: Red Wine
Variety: Shiraz
Closure: Screwcap
Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2021
Warehouse
34 Redland Drive
Vermont VIC 3133
Australia
Critic Score: 99 and 19/20
Alcohol: 14.5%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: 2050
"A wine of monstrous proportions; hedonists will be incandescent with pleasure." Erin Larkin
"One of the very best releases of this series. Exceptional." Andrew Caillard MW
"Delicious, lip‑smacking, and surprisingly convivial." Matthew Jukes
"Everything in total harmony. A superb RWT." Ken Gargett
"A powerhouse of a wine with formidable length." Huon Hooke
"A powerful and extremely exciting wine. Will age exceptionally." James Suckling
"As dense as they come, intense and awash in black and blue." Anthony Gismondi
"An excellent RWT. Concentrated and opulent." Dave Brookes
"Will be fantastic." Campbell Mattinson
"A superb RWT." Christer Byklum
"An opulent, powerful and brooding Bin 798." Tyson Stelzer
"A dense, tightly coiled bottling of RWT that's made for tomorrow." Christina Pickard
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. The inaugral 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.
"Lovely blackberry, dark chocolate, praline aromas with mocha, marzipan, and vanilla notes. Beautifully balanced and layered with superb apricot, yellow peach, grapefruit flavours, underlying tonic water, grilled nut and vanilla notes, superb mid‑palate viscosity and fresh lacy textures. Finishes minerally and long. One of the very best releases of this series. Exceptional." Andrew Caillard MW
RWT is typically inky and deep in colour, with sumptuous fruit sweetness, mouth-filling flavours, underlying spice, savoury nuances and chocolaty tannins. The 2021 Penfolds RWT Shiraz is a 100% shiraz from premium vineyards in the Barossa Valley. The wine was matured for 14 months in French oak hogsheads (80% new, 20% one-year-old). The result is a wine that helps to redefine Barossa shiraz at the highest quality level.
Expert reviews
"Sourced from the Barossa, this wine matures in French hogsheads for 14 months, 80% of them new and 20% one-year-old. A cracking red. Dark, almost opaque maroon in colour, there is finesse here. Red fruits, notably raspberries, with florals, cold tea, milk chocolate, hints of cloves and red cherry notes all combine to provide wonderful aromatics. Saturated flavours here, and the wine has elegance. The texture is seductive and layered, ensuring a more refined, more graceful, wine. Bright acidity runs the length, which is seriously impressive. Everything in total harmony. A superb RWT." Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 98 points
"Very deep, saturated purple-red colour; brown/woody spices and earthy/stony aromas layered with black fruits and tar. Smoky oak very present but balanced. Very firm and full-bodied, a powerhouse of a wine, the tannins coating the mouth. A big, bold, brawny wine in typical style, with mouth-gripping tannins and formidable length. Cellaring recommended! Drink: 2025–2043." Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 97 points
"A powerful, extremely exciting wine, framed by an almost impenetrable cladding of oak. And yet the density of the fruit is undeniable, defined by a piercing core of blueberry and kirsch, doused with iodine, beef brisket, anise and a savory sassafras note. There is much, much more sitting in the cradle of youthful inscrutability. Big and bolshy, forcing its way long by virtue of tenacity of extract and quality of tannins. The sort of tannins that roll through the mouth, eking a journey across every crevice. Really fine tannins. An accomplishment born of an exceptional vintage, quality material and wonderful management. This will age exceptionally well and strikes me as among the very top wines of this new swag of releases." James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com - 97 points
"The RWT, now Bin Number 798, is long past the Red Wine Trial stage. The French oak version of Grange stands out in a country full of impressive shiraz labels. In 2021 the wine spent 14 months in 80% new French oak, and 20% in one-year-old hogsheads. Unlike American oak, the French version disappears seamlessly into this Barossa wine, that is every bit the red wine the multi-regional Grange is. This version is as dense as they come, again glossy, intense, and awash in black and blue fruit, licorice, black olives, and savoury notes with a surfing freshness that lifts the entire wine through the finish. It is nowhere near ready, so collectors, dig in. An expensive wine already worth the price and will only improve as it moves through the next three or four decades." Anthony Gismondi, Gismondi on wine - 97 points
"An excellent RWT release from Barossa Valley shiraz matured in French oak hogsheads (80/20% new/one-year-old) for 14 months. Purple splashed crimson in the glass, it smells Barossa through and through with super-ripe dark plum, mulberry and blue fruits cut through with hints of baking spices, berry cream, licorice, panforte, dark chocolate, cedar and struck flint. Concentrated and opulent with densely packed fine tannins, deep, resonant Barossa fruit and a powerful yet elegant, distinctly regional profile. Another for the cellar. Drink by 2050." Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points
"Straightforward and impressive at once. Plums and vanilla, cedarwood and tobacco, salted licorice, sweet raspberry. It both lays it on and keeps itself nice. Tannin isn’t over the top in volume terms but it maintains a swagger nonetheless. A little oak-driven perhaps but it freshens considerably as it breathes. Will be fantastic. Drink: 2026-2038+." Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 96 points
"Ruby. Cassis, blackberries, dark fruits, anise, liquorice, peppery, layered and detailed, richness and depth to it. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark fruits, anise, spices, liquorice, juicy, blackberries, detailed and layered, long finish. Superb RWT." Christer Byklum - 96 points
"Oak is never backward in coming forward in the RWT. It has been a feature of the wine from the beginning, a strong signature, but an evocative and stylish one. Heady perfume of vanillin charry oak, almond skin and hazelnut with lifted black fruits, currant, anise and five spice aromatics. Generous Barossa shiraz, dense in deep, dark fruit, anise, dark chocolate, woodsy spice, savoury leather, is framed beautifully, potently, in fine-grained tannins and classy oak. Overall, exudes a polished refinement, an elegance. Drink: 2023-2047." Jeni Port, Wine Pilot - 95 points
"The 2021 RWT Bin 798 is layered with wheat-y/biscuity oak on the nose with blackberry compote, black earth, black olive tapenade ... black, black, black. Tannic and muscular in the mouth and so much of everything: fruit, oak and tannin. A dense wine of monstrous proportions, those who love this gritty, hedonistic style will be incandescent with pleasure. Positively glowing. This 2021 RWT is like the heart and soul of the RWT style. Barossa, Barossa, Barossa. Big! Matured for 14 months in French oak (80% new). Drink: 2023-2051." Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 95 points
"The full splay of depth and impact of the northern and central Barossa are on grand parade here, brimming with succulent berry/cherry/plum fruit, layers of milk and dark chocolate, all set off with a firm, fine fanfare of super-fine, enduring Penfolds tannins. For all the bright definition of the season, this is an opulent, powerful and brooding Bin 798 of strong proportions and potential. Drink 2031-2041." Tyson Stelzer - 95 points
"In true Penfolds style, this is a dense, tightly coiled bottling of RWT that's made for tomorrow. A dark chocolate and toasted spice oak note is threaded between rich, concentrated blackberry and black plum, licorice and bay leaf aromas. The mouthfeel is equally powerful, packed with dark fruit flavors and fine, chiseled tannins. It could age for decades. Just don't touch it until at least 2026. " Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast – 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.