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| Community Tasting Notes (average 87.6 pts. and median of 87 pts. in 20 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by sirledge@gmail.com on 4/10/2023: Oxidized and undrinkable (529 views) | | | Tasted by Mr Laroux on 6/18/2022: Unlike the last reviewer, my bottle was not completely oxidised, but well down the tertiary path. Taste and nose of dried fruits. A clear tinge of brown in the colour. Not undrinkable, but very advanced. Drink now. (983 views) | | | Tasted by pbaek on 6/7/2021 flawed bottle: Totally gone. Oxidized. (1791 views) | | | Tasted by seba on 12/12/2020: Criado en barricas de roble francés y americano durante 13 meses.
Se rompió el corcho (era esperable) y lo termine poniendo en un decanter. Apenas lo abrí lo probé y tanto en aromas como en sabor estaba muy cerrado.
Lo esperé una hora y media y lo volví a probar: estaba más expresivo en nariz, pero en boca seguía cerrado.
Recién a las 3 horas estaba tomable. La nariz era una fiesta, con aromas a compotas, ahumados, tabaco y pimienta negra. En boca tenía un retrogusto amargo que no me convencía.
A las 4 horas y media se acomodo todo y explotó. Se equilibró mucho en boca y se fue el gusto amargo del final.
Cómo conclusión creo que le pasó su mejor momento pero es un vino que está más que tomable a pesar de sus 23 años. La última copa fue genial! (1805 views) | | | Tasted by concord on 11/25/2018: Still drinking very well (2999 views) | | | Tasted by chezbeach on 1/2/2016: Past it's prime, but some evidence that it was once good. (4410 views) | | | Tasted by RaphaelMalago on 5/19/2015 & rated 87 points: This wine has clearly already past it's peak but in a good way as a few of the btls we open offer some elegant clear juice. Medium ruby colour, Aromas of dried red fruit, very herbal, menthol but fresh and elegant. The palate is medium tannins and acidity, fresh, good and ready to drink. (4343 views) | | | Tasted by concord on 3/1/2015: Delightful old mature wine somewhat losing its cabernet typicity given it's age. On the nose, red damson fruit with brooding intensity. Palate is soft and round tannins with juicy red acidity. Quite elegant and lovely with our rich dinner (home grown crown prince squash). However, time to drink up to savour its best. (3911 views) | | | Tasted by Old Joe on 12/19/2013 & rated 92 points: Ho-Hum just another stellar wine from Penfolds. great character to it full bodied and unfortunately it was my last of this Bin and Vintage. It still had some life left to it. (4709 views) | | | Tasted by Alex H on 8/24/2013 & rated 87 points: Well matured claret like plumish fruit but with a little black spice at the end. (4373 views) | | | Tasted by scb05 on 11/22/2008 & rated 85 points: Past its prime - brownish in color. Ashame. (4057 views) | | | Tasted by TaitaJidou on 5/9/2002 & rated 87 points: A lovely wine. Smooth, balanced, pretty well aged. This is a good wine. (3122 views) | | | Tasted by Double-A on 10/31/2000: Opaque, dark ruby colour. Cherries, cassis, olive and toasty vanilla nose. Very dry with moderate tannins and acidity. Lengthy finish (504 views) | | | Tasted by cigar52 on 6/6/1901 & rated 87 points: has potential to age...some tannins for 3-5 years (3435 views) |
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About Us
Australia's winemaking history of less than two hundred years is brief by European measures though, like Europe, punctuated by periods of extreme success and difficult times. From the earliest winemaking days Penfolds has figured prominently and few would argue the importance of Penfolds’ influence on Australia’s winemaking psyche.
Without the influence of Penfolds the modern Australian wine industry would look very different indeed. Sitting comfortably outside of fad and fashion, Penfolds has taken Australian wine to the world on a grand stage and forged a reputation for quality that is without peer.
Penfolds’ reputation for making wines of provenance and cellaring potential might suggest a mantle of tradition and formality is the preferred attire of a company with so much history to defend. But to label Penfolds as simply an established and conventional winemaker, would be to confuse tradition with consideration and to overlook the innovative spirit that has driven Penfolds since its foundation, and continues to find expression in modern times.
If there is anything traditional about Penfolds, it is the practice of constantly reviewing the wines it already does well, and continuously evolving and refining styles as vineyards mature and access to ever older and more varied vineyard sites improves.
Making The Best Possible Wine
At Penfolds, the role of the winemaker is to make the best possible wine within the constraints of each vintage. Penfolds’ house style emerged from a fortified-wine producing culture and evolved as a winemaking philosophy – a way of making wine – which has had a profound effect on the entire Australian wine industry.
The concept of multi-regional and vineyard blending, a feature of the Penfolds house style, is an amplification of the ‘all-round wine’. Without the constraints of a single vineyard, winemakers could choose the best possible fruit with the outstanding characteristics of each vineyard.
While American oak has played a central role in the development of Penfolds red wines, French oak has been increasingly used in the evolution of new wines – particularly RWT and Yattarna. Maturation in oak, which follows fermentation, is also key to the Penfolds house style.
The Penfolds approach to winemaking has percolated through the entire Australian wine industry over the last 50 years. The techniques employed in research and development of Penfolds wines are remarkable and many of the discoveries and innovations have had a lasting impact on winemaking thinking.
Winemakers
In Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago, Penfolds has nurtured four of Australia's great winemakers. They have passed the Chief Winemaker’s baton of responsibility for crafting some of Australia's most iconic wines, down through the past six decades.
Joining Peter Gago in the Penfolds winemaking team are Senior Red Winemaker Steve Lienert, Senior White Winemaker Kym Schroeter, and Red Winemakers Andrew Baldwin, Adam Clay, Stephanie Dutton and Matt Woo - also the Penfolds Fortified Winemaker. All members of the Penfolds winemaking team ensure that Penfolds’ reputation for outstanding quality is upheld.
Vineyards
Barossa Valley
Penfolds draws fruit from a combined vineyard area of 618 hectares in the Barossa region of South Australia. The Barossa is about 70 kilometres north of Adelaide and in 1911 Penfolds established a winery at Nuriootpa, completed in time for the 1913 vintage. The Barossa region is known for its relatively low rainfall with many vineyards dry grown on single wire trellising.
Magill Estate
The historic and heritage-protected Magill Estate Vineyard was established in 1844 by Dr Christopher Rawson and Mary Penfold—just eight years after the foundation of Adelaide. It was originally known as the Grange Vineyard, named after their new homestead ‘The Grange’, a cottage which still stands intact amongst the vines.
Eden Valley
Joseph Gilbert planted the first vines in the Eden Valley in 1842 and since that time the region has become synonymous with producing elegant riesling and complex shiraz. While its name suggests a concave nature, Eden Valley is actually a wide ridge, situated east of the Barossa Valley with an altitude ranging from 440 – 550 metres.
McLaren Vale
McLaren Vale is located approximately 40km to the south of Adelaide, with the vineyards in the region located between 6 and 15 kilometres from the Gulf of St Vincent. The elevation ranges from 50 to 350 metres above sea level. Penfolds has company owned vineyards throughout the region, using the fruit as blending components for premium red wines such as Grange and Bin 389.
Coonawarra
Penfolds has had a long history with the Coonawarra region, dating back to their first vineyard purchase in 1960. It is one of the most famous red wine regions in Australia with weathered limestone terra rossa soils, relatively cool climate and overall water availability. Coonawarra has played a significant role in many of Penfolds' multi-regional wines as well as the single region wines such as Bin 128.
James Halliday Australian Wine Companion Winery Of The Year 2014: Penfolds
Penfolds is Australia’s foremost winemaker, with an unbroken line dating back to its establishment in 1844 when medical practitioner Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold and wife Mary purchased ‘the delightfully situated and truly valuable of Mackgill … Comprising 500 acres (202 hectares) of the choicest land’. Here they built the house that still stands today, and within a few years had begun the winery and cellar on the site of today’s buildings at Magill Estate.
Mary took charge of winemaking, initially producing grenache prescribed by her husband as a tonic for anaemic patients. By 1870 she, son-in-law Thomas Hyland and cellar manager/winemaker Joseph Gillard had formed Penfolds & Co. With markets in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, their wine production was over one-third of South Australia’s total.
Growth continued unabated, and in 1945 Penfolds acquired the jewel of the Magill Vineyard, at that time the largest vineyard in South Australia. It now has 2100 hectares of vineyards, the largest share of Australia’s total. Two men came together in the 1950s to lay the foundation of Penfolds today: winemaker Max Schubert, and research chemist Ray Beckwith (who died shortly after his 100th birthday in 2012); indeed, their contribution transcended Penfolds to the entire Australian wine industry.
The architecture for the Penfolds wine portfolio of the twenty-first century was established in the 1960s, half a century ago. There has been growth, both in the range of labels and their price points, but it has been cleverly – indeed sensitively – managed; demand-driven growth has been achieved without any quality compromise whatsoever.
There is no possibility that the pre-eminence of Penfolds will ever be challenged by any other Australian wine business. Equally certain is that the Penfolds brand value will continue to gain ground on the world stage of all consumable products. If proof be needed, the overall quality of the wines in this Wine Companion is the best Penfolds has ever presented to the markets of the globe.
Author: James Halliday Jul 2013Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 407Launched with the 1990 vintage in 1993, Bin 407 was developed in response to the increasing availability of high quality Cabernet Sauvignon fruit. Inspired by Bin 707, Bin 407 offers varietal definition and approachability, yet still with structure and depth of flavour. Textbook Cabernet Sauvignon, the varietally expressive Bin 407 highlights the rewards of Penfolds multi-region, multi-vineyard blending, with a core of ripe fruit supported by sensitive use of French and American oak.Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonAustralia Wine Australia (Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation) | Australian Wines (Wikipedia)South Australia South Australian Wine Industry Association | South Australian Wines (Wikipedia) |
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