Nick's Penfolds Tasting Report: Vintages Can Be Extraordinary
The tagline “Numbers Can be Extraordinary” is the basis for Penfolds’ global marketing campaign, tapping various cultural references (and scores where they are high) and, tasting the latest round of their most famous wines, it definitely rings true for vintages.
These are the Penfolds stars and every year some shine brighter than others, largely on the basis of vintage that, in turn, shapes fruit sourcing. Red winemaking style is – by and large – locked in a fortified cabinet, the whites tend to get the chance to evolve more readily.
Here we have the last wine of the 2011 vintage (represented by Grange) and the first of the 2015s. The 2011 vintage has been a painful one to work through (most difficult for the Coonawarra-based reds) but the following four years are, on the whole, vintages to celebrate.
The tasting always starts with the Bin 51 Riesling and this time around it proved to be one of the highlights of the tasting. It’s from the most recent vintage, 2015, and make a note to follow this harvest as it moves through the various release cycles, culminating with Grange 2015 which we should see in 2019.
Speaking of Grange, here it is the last of the 2011 Penfolds wines to be released and it is a striking contrast to the 2010, which I reviewed here previously. It raises a few questions around a different set of numbers, namely those of price, and the wisdom of standing steadfast on release price when it is a well-known lesser-quality vintage for South Australia.
Whilst many good (and some great) wines were made in South Australia in 2011, the style that was perhaps hardest to successfully execute was that of the full-bodied, throaty, rich and ripe red – exactly Grange. Penfolds have played the reduced quantity card (although they refuse to release official volumes of Grange) and it was no doubt in the lower register of their 4-10,000 case range, but the ready availability of better recent and older vintages at lower prices means this 2011 has a steep hill to climb.
Time will definitely help the wine along in the perception stakes, and there are plenty enough people out there who will recognize Grange and not the vintage, but imagine your host serving you a 2011 Grange at dinner. Flattering? A fun blind tasting options wine?
In its favor is the fact that the quality of a wine like this in a vintage like this is significantly better than others in the past, like the 1974 Grange for instance. But it’s still a one-sided argument, any way you look at it. And I have to give winemaker Peter Gago and his team an A for effort with this 2011; they’ve done a sterling job in constructing a Grange under considerable duress.
That aside, there are a number of stars in this collection of recent releases. I’m impressed by the St Henri 2012 (this is reminiscent of the quality seen in the 2010) Magill Estate 2013 (one of the finest young versions I’ve tasted), the Bin 169 completely outclasses Bin 707 in the style, quality and value stakes and the RWT 2013 is well worth the asking price.
And aside from the Bin 51 2015 mentioned above, the other whites of note are the immaculate Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2014 (another in a run of successful vintages for this wine) and Yattarna 2013, both of which will benefit from a little more time in bottle to settle into stride. The list below is arranged by score.
Contributing Editor Nick Stock is a renowned Australian wine writer, author, presenter and filmmaker who reports on his worldwide wine tasting experiences for JamesSuckling.com.
Click for notes and scores.
Penfolds South Australia St Henri 2012
Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra Bin 169 2013
Penfolds Adelaide Hills Magill Estate 2013
Penfolds Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Reserve Bin A 2014
Penfolds Riesling Eden Valley Bin 51 2015
Penfolds Shiraz Barossa Valley RWT 2013
Penfolds Chardonnay South Australia Yattarna 2013
Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon South Australia Bin 407 2013
Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz South Australia Bin 389 2013
Penfolds Chardonnay Tumbarumba Bin 311 2014
Penfolds Shiraz Marananga Barossa Valley Bin 150 2013
Penfolds South Australia Grange 2011
Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon South Australia Bin 707 2013
Penfolds Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills Bin 23 2014
Penfolds Shiraz Coonawarra Bin 128 2013
Penfolds Shiraz Mataro South Australia Bin 2 2013