I was invited today to a tasting of Penfold's wines featuring chief winemaker Peter Gago as a speaker. He is in town for the recorking clinic tour. If you're not familiar with this, Penfold's offers to recork any bottle of Penfolds older than fifteen years for free. They see a lot of wines from the 50's, 60's and so on. So, to our benefit, he decided to hold this trade tasting of mostly current releases.
Upon entering, we were served the 2009 Bin 51 Riesling. Plenty of petrol and lime on the nose, dry on the palate (austere, even...) with peach underlying. Also a touch of tropicality in the nose with orange as well. Very straightforward and a nice, friendly Riesling.
At our prepared seats, we had a line-up of whites and reds. To start we tasted contrasting Chardonnays. The 2009 Bin 311 Chardonnay represents the more Burgundian-styled with less new oak, but still showing baked apple, buttered toast, fig and orange flavors with crisp acidity that support a moderate finish. On the other end is their premium Chardonnay: the "Yattarna" Chardonnay 2007, which sees a lot more new oak. Wildly buttered grilled pineapple, lemon, green apple, showing nice balance in its components, but certainly a powerhouse. At $100 a bottle, I'd stick to the Bin 311.
Moving on to reds, we tasted the Bin 2 Shiraz/Mourvedre 2009 which shows amazing freshness on the nose, almost as if it were not oaked at all. Also, cracked black pepper, black cherry, a little herbaceousness, blueberry and a touch of raspberry. Following this, in comparison, they poured the Bin 138 GSM 2007. Bin 138, sealed with a screw cap, showed an incredible amount of reductive flavors that needed blowing off. However, underneath the rubber, it showed black and red fruits with dried flowers, a touch of coconut, and a nice balance on the palate.
The Bin 28 "Kalimna" Shiraz 2006 began to showcase what Penfold's is known for: Shiraz. This wine was textbook Shiraz with cherry liqueur and chocolate on the nose, blueberry and blackberry mixed with black pepper, sweet aromatics, and somewhat firm tannin. Following this, and more in the style I would prefer, is the "St. Henri" Shiraz 2005, which is aged in large oak casks, minimizing the oak flavors and emphasizing the purity of the fruit. This wine showed Queen Anne Cherry Cordials and vanilla on the nose, a very clean fruit component, balance, florality, blueberry and black cherry, a hint of meat as well as a saline character. Moderate body and soft tannin with a beautiful texture on the mouth. Following this was a library selection of the 1999 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon , poured from magnum. It was difficult to get past all the new oak on this wine. It reeked of freshly sawed cedar on the nose as well as on the palate. Underlying, there were sweet flavors of brown sugar, coconut, vanilla, Twizzlers, blackberry and cassis, baking spices. The tannins are very firm suggesting this has a way to go, but I doubt that oak will ever integrate.
And finally - the 2004 Grange. Firm tannin dominates the palate right now, suggesting this has got a long life ahead. 100% new American oak shows on the nose and palate, but it's much more integrated than the other bottlings. The florality here is fresher and the fruit is sweet, but not AS sweet. The finish on this guy is pretty impressive and overall, for elegance in Australia, this is top notch. I wouldn't pay the prices they're charging these days, but I certainly wouldn't turn away a glass if offered.
Lastly, they poured a Grandfather Rare Tawny. I love Aussie dessert wines in lieu of dessert. They have so much to offer! This was full of walnuts, cherry flesh, tangerine candy, brown sugar, raisins, fig, toast. Wildly sweet, of course, but complex and a delicious end to a meal with some cheese.
With as much wine and as many labels as Penfold's makes, it's a wonder they can make this many solid wines. Overall, they are crowd-pleasers and don't push the envelope in any one direction, but their commitment to showing different styles and vineyard sources is commendable. A hearty thanks to Mr. Gago for making some time for the Los Angeles wine market!
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