Reds shine in bad year
Penfolds Chief Winemeaker Peter Gago.
While 2008 was a disaster for many producers, Penfolds bucked the trend with a superb vintage.
In the complex world of wine, summaries and short cuts can be useful. Vintage charts, for instance, document the best years for different wine regions - however, they can be deceptive. Those who follow the charts risk missing some great wines. The 2008 Penfolds reds are a perfect example.
In South Australia, 2008 was a terrible year for winemakers. The Adelaide area had a record heatwave in March, during or just before the harvest in many vineyards. For 15 days, it was more than 35 degrees. Night-time temperatures often didn't fall below 30 degrees.
But Penfolds picked 95 per cent of its crop before the heatwave hit.
Tasting is the ultimate test. The Penfolds '08s I've seen so far have been superb. They include Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz, RWT Barossa Shiraz, Magill Estate Shiraz, Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz, Bin 407 and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignons and Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz. No sign of heat damage in any of them and the best are magnificent.
"It's a very good year, for cabernet as much as shiraz," says Peter Gago, Penfolds chief winemaker. "It might sound arrogant, perhaps, but it's a Penfold vintage. There are no excuses needed for the wines."
The Penfolds bin wines are released on March 1 each year. This year saw unprecedented discounting by the Coles Liquor group and unprecedented action by Penfolds, when it repossessed stock from Coles. Penfolds claimed some shops were selling the wines below cost, thereby threatening damage to its brand.
Chambers Cellars, which did not have stock repossessed, advertised the '08 Bin 28 at $21.99 in mixed or straight dozens, which is a 35 per cent reduction on Penfolds' $34 recommended retail price. The wine is a ripper: one of the best Bin 28s in recent years, rich and deep. It's far superior to the Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz '09, released a year younger at the same price.
The wine I most anticipated tasting was the new Marananga shiraz but I was a fraction disappointed. Yes, it's big and rich and full of flavour and stuffing but it's just too oaky for me. I didn't complain about over-oaking in any of the other Bin, Icon or Luxury wines this year. Even Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is often an oaky monster, is one of the stars of the vintage, a statuesque wine. I loved it.
Despite its $190 price-tag, Bin 707 is Penfolds' biggest-selling red this year, Gago says: "It's like a runaway train. And not only in China but also Europe."
I scored it 96 - it's a sumptuous, 40-year wine and as good a young 707 as I can recall.
Of the others, Bin 407 Cabernet (Bin 707's little brother) is excellent; RWT is superb; Bin 389 is very good as usual, the ultimate drink-or-cellar wine in the Penfolds armoury.
The most underestimated wine, as always, is Bin 138 Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre '09 ($30). A very tasty, drink-now wine of character and style, it is still distinctively Penfolds but not at all oaky. Having tasted all the Bin 138s ever made, I have no doubt it will age gracefully for 20 years.
This year, Penfolds has added a new cabernet sauvignon, a stablemate for RWT. It is a Coonawarra wine, very good indeed, and will be released later this year, under a new, still-secret, brand name. It will be the same price as RWT.
Oh, I almost forgot Grange. How could I? But at $599 a pop, it's off the radar for most of us. The new vintage is 2006 and it's an outstanding wine. Elegant and beautifully balanced, it comes from an excellent vintage and will take its place in the top rank of Granges. In modern Grange style, it's not overtly oaky nor too tannic and it's certainly not a blockbuster. Gago describes it as between '04 and '02 in style: "It has some of the alluring generosity of character and spirit of '04 and some of the linearity of the cool-vintage '02."
It can be enjoyed now but it will last for 50 years like the best of them. I scored it 97.
A final snippet from Gago about coming Grange vintages.
"We've been very lucky with a run of great vintages, 2011 being an exception [there will be a Grange but it's a very difficult year]. The 2009 is very good but the 2010 will blow everything around it out of the water!"
That's four years away. Can't wait.
huon@huonhooke.com
Yattarna produces the goods
The lone white among Penfold's so-called icon and luxury wines from the 2008 vintage is Yattarna chardonnay. It's mostly Tasmanian fruit, so the South Australian heatwave issue doesn't apply. Yattarna is simply sensational - possibly the best Australian chardonnay I've tasted this year. The much more funky and oaky Reserve Bin 09A Chardonnay 2009 is more popular at wine shows, yet I much prefer the Yattarna.