Penfolds Collection 2023: In Salute of Polish and Precision

When the swag of new Penfolds wines is released each year, the inevitable focus is on Grange – Australia’s best performer in the fine wine space. Yet while I have become quite comfortable with a machinery that nurtures a suspended disbelief in the transcendence of terroir, with a house tradition of intrastate, interregional and now, international blending across borders, I was struck by just how impressive Penfolds’ more singularly regional expressions were. They stood aloft an impressive raft of wines at the top end.

Penfolds’ chief winemaker, Peter Gago, was in full flight when presenting the latest offerings in Melbourne. This man’s indomitable spirit, belief in the cause and ectoplasmic aura, distilled with humanity and deep knowledge, is contagious. When I asked him about Penfolds’ foray into Bordeaux and a delicious luncheon claret iterated as FWT 585 2020, he became particularly animated, explaining Penfolds’ intention of rejuvenating prime vineyard land in the Haut-Medoc. Stay tuned, I suppose.

Among the other international protagonists, Bin 600, a meld of Napa cabernet and Paso Robles shiraz born of cuttings from Australian vineyards Kalimna and Magill, is salacious, good value and particularly delicious. After all, when the coddling and rumination on what it all means is done, Penfolds’ polish, precision and sheer deliciousness are powerful tools.

Gago set a stage for the Grange. He poured 2009, 1999 and 1989 as a prelude, or adjunct (the pace of tasting and order of wines tasted was left to the individual to decide) to the newly born 2019. Aside from the intrigue of tasting across 10-year increments, Gago implied that these vintages were sleepers, hidden behind the bushel of more venerated years.

Such is the case with 2019, following the lauded 2018. While the 2019 is an excellent wine bound to elicit dulcet claims of “classic” alongside more exuberant scores than my own, I found the only single-vineyard expression in the stable, Magill Estate Shiraz 2021, together with Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, to be as exciting. The difference is surely the vintage.

While Grange is sourced from propitiously performing regions and sites to suit the vintage at hand, the style is principally founded on warmer South Australian zones. 2019 was a drought year, its challenges evidenced as somewhat unrefined tannins from the thick grape skins that resulted. My usual fave, St. Henri Shiraz, was marked by a similar burly latticework, attesting to even more challenging conditions in 2020. In many ways, the bolshieness and unbridled power of the vintage are well suited to Grange’s interminable capacity to unwind in the cellar, but the freshness and transparency of 2021 in comparison was as enlightening as it was effusive, delivering a raft of wines marked by poise and an effortless drinkability in most cases.

Subsequently, my top-scoring wines abutting Grange on either side were the Yattarna Chardonnay 2021, RWT Bin 798 Shiraz 2021 and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, the latter a polyglot of Coonawarra, Barossa Valley and Wrattonbully fruit that is nevertheless defined by this magical vintage more than its interregional parts.

– Ned Goodwin MW, Senior Editor