As the most famed winery in Australia, I have to admit that I didn’t particularly like Penfolds a lot. When I started to drink wine many years ago, I did try a couple of entry level Penfolds wines. Unfortunately, none I’m particularly impressed. Afterwards when I have more experiences in wine, I have more opportunity to try different luxury Penfolds wines such as RWT, Bin 389, Bin 707 and Grange. Certainly not bad but still not particularly impressed. For this reason, I didn’t store a single bottle of Penfolds for ageing. My personal preference is still wines from France and Italy. There are a couple of boutique wineries in Australia that I’m very impressed in recent years. But will they age? I believe they will but I still haven’t tried a single bottle of aged Australian wine to be really certain. In Hong Kong, space is a premium. I want to reserve my precious space for wines that I’m sure they will improve with ageing.
To most people, I believe what attract them most are the two bottles of Grange. For me, it was the bottle of 1989 Penfolds Bin 389. How will an Australian red tasted like after ageing for twenty years? In addition, the chance to taste 15 bottles of Penfolds is a great opportunity for me to have a more complete view on Penfolds. My view before may be biased based on my limited tasting experience with Penfolds. And after the tasting, I have to say I’m very impressed with Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay and St-Henri. For Grange, still it is not my bottle of wine.
2012 Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling
Pure and clean minerality, floral and citrus flavours. Crispy acidity and really refreshing. Pleasant lemon and mineral aftertaste. I’m personally not a fan of dry Riesling, esp. those from the New Worlds but this one is really good. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive at around HK$300 a bottle.
2011 Penfolds Thomas Hyland Chardonnay
Very restrained nose with dominant buttery and oak barrel induced aromas yet still balanced. Purer and cleaner in palate with strong lemon flavour. Acceptable complexity. A good Chardonnay that should please most drinkers. For the price of around HK$200, this is quite good.
2010 Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay
This is a higher grade Chardonnay than Thomas Hyland Chardonnay. Unlike most Penfolds wines, this wine comes from a single region. This wine undoubtedly has higher level of complexity and depth than Hyland Chardonnay. Style is consistent Penfold’s pure and balanced style. For a retail price of about $300, this is good.
2008 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay
Yattarma Chardonnay is Penfolds’ flagship white wine. The story of Yattarna began in 1992 when Penfolds aimed to produce the best Aussie Chardonnay. Penfolds challenged its winemakers with this project allowing them to produce the greatest Aussie Chardonnay without any restriction. They can choose to use any grape from any Penfolds’ owned vineyard. Yattarna Chardonnay has always been a blend of wines from different vineyards. In recent years, grapes are coming mainly from Adelaide Hills，Tumbarumba (New South Wales), Henty (Victoria) and Derwent Valley (Tasmania).
My first smell can already feel its depth and complexity. Strong citrus peel and minerality. Undoubtedly, this is an extremely high quality Chardonnay with superb ageing potential. I’m moved by it. To me, Chardonnay is doing really great in Australia in recent years.
2010 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Seventy Six Shiraz Cabernet
A blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Strong aromas of violet and blue fruits. Comparing to most Aussie Shiraz, this is relatively more restrained. The use of American oak is not too heavy-handed. A balanced wine but lacking complexity. I’m not impressed with this wine.
2009 Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz
This is quite a typical Aussie style Shiraz. RIch, dense and smooth black fruits flavours. Consistent with Penfolds style, the wine is quite balanced even though the flavours induced by American oak is more pronounced in palate. For the price of around $200, this is acceptable.
2009 Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon
Penfolds Bin 407 is a cheaper version of Bin 707. Mostly aged in American oak and actually most of the oak barrel are used oak barrel used by Bin 707! This is an elegant and balanced Cabernet Sauvignon. RIch in fruit with pure and clean blackcurrant flavour. What I’m especially impressed about this wine is that it doesn’t suffer from the mid palate hole problem that most 100% Cabernet Sauvignon would have. Unfortunately, its complexity is just average. At about HK$400, I think it is a bit too expensive for its quality.
2009 / 1999 / 1989 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz
Penfolds Bin 389 is usually described a poor man Grange. And it is actually aged in oak barrel used by Grange before. I started by drinking vintage 2009 and immediately noticed this is a big step up against Koonunga Hill. Although flavours induced by American oak is quite obvious, this is a balanced wine. Fruit-forward yet not lacking complexity.
Then I proceed to drink vintage 1999. The fleshy fruit flavour changed to smooth and mellow fruits. Every element in the wine is already well integrated. I definitely like this aged Bin 389 much more. How about vintage 1989? It is even more smoother and more mellow than vintage 1999. Unfortunately, fruits are slightly lacking and I think this wine has slightly past its peak.
Having tried the two aged Bin 389, will I start cellaring Aussie red? Not at this moment I think. I’m not saying they are not worth for cellaring. If I have lots of space, I certainly would not mind cellaring a few cases for my consumption. Unfortunately, given space is such a precious thing in Hong Kong, I would rather leave my cellaring space to my other favorite wine regions.
2008 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz
A blend of 90% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged in large oak barrel of 1460 litres for 15 months. Given today wine trend is to age wine in small oak barrel, this is a rather traditional approach. Traditional, however, doesn’t meant to be low in quality. In contrast, this bottle of wine is my favorite red wine of the day, esp. considering it costs much more less than Grange!
Actually, maybe out of your expectation, the price of Grange and St. Henri was almost the same initially when they released. Grange’s winemaker was Max Schubert while St. Henri was Davoren. It is well known that the two persons competed to produce the best Shiraz in Australia. Today, most will think Max Schubert won. However, at the very beginning, it was St. Henri that was more popular. Yet, the revolutionary approach of Grange quickly made it the most sought after Shiraz wine in Australia.
A bottle of St. Henri from new vintage may not be people favorite. The wine at its youth is so restrained that its power and complexity are not easy to be noticed. However, I’m confident that this wine will evolve and improve significantly with age. It will be beautiful! Unfortunately, I don’t have a chance to try an aged St. Henri yet.
2008 Penfolds Cellar Reserve Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged in 100% new French oak barrel for 15 months. Although the wine is quite young of vintage 2008, it is already very expressive today, a big contrast with St. Henri which is so closed and backward. Although aged in 100% new French oak, the wine is balanced and oak doesn’t dominate. This is undoubtedly a wine with high complexity and quality. However, does it worth about HK$3,000? I’m not certain.
2009 Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz
100% Shiraz aged in 60% new French oak barrel and 40% used French oak barrel for 16 months. St. Henri is a traditional Shiraz while RWT is a modernist example. St. Henri is closed and backward today while RWT is already quite expressive with pure and fleshy fruits and a smooth palate. St. Henri is my choice here. But if you like rich, pure and forward fruits, RWT is for you.
1997 / 2007 Penfolds Grange
Finally, it’s time for Grange which I believe many people have been waiting for. Grange is probably the most expensive cross regions blend wine in the world. Today, most regions are releasing more and more single vineyard wines with the aim to express more of different terrior, Grange has been using grapes from different Australia regions from the start and didn’t change on this since then. Most of the grapes are coming from Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. There is also a tradition to blend in some Cabernet Sauvignon although some vintages such as 1999 and 2000 didn’t. Grange is aged in American oak barrel. If we say St. Henri is an introvert, then Grange is an extrovert. As commented by its original winemaker Max Schubert, “the objective was to produce a big, full-bodied wine containing maximum extraction of all the components in the grape material used.”
Comparing to St. Henri, there is no doubt that 2007 Grange is much more open and expressive. It has very high level of complexity and depth. Again, consistent with Penfolds’ style, the wine is balanced even though it has been aged in American oak barrel for 21 months. Although still a hot climate example of Shiraz, there is still some elegance in the wine.
1997 Penfolds Grange, with its age, is certainly less fruity and less fruit-forward with additional complexity. The wine is more integrated and more mellow.
I have no doubt that Penfolds Grange is a very good wine. However, every time I drink it, I’m not really convinced that it should be that expensive. A bottle of Grange can buy a couple of St. Henri and I believe I will love an aged St. Henri more than an aged Grange.