PENFOLDS AUSTRALIAN WINE TASTING FEATURING A VERTICAL OF GRANGE GOING BACK TO THE 1990 VINTAGE! Saturday, November 4, 2023 - 7:30 PM
"You have only so many bottles in your life, never drink a bad one."
Len Evans
We don’t waste time here at the Wine Watch as every day above ground should be special and celebrated with great wines. You never know when your last bottle will be so we are trying to take down as many great wines as we can before our time runs out!
One of the reasons that I get out of bed in the morning is to drink wines like Penfolds Grange. Grange is a symbol of the best that Australia has to offer, the pinnacle of quality and the epitome of what a Shiraz from southeast Australia is and standard bearer should be. That is why we host an annual event to showcase the newest release of this iconic wine.
We had scheduled this event originally as a collector’s series tasting where your price of admission is a bottle of Grange but crickets… So, we have reworked this event and I have pulled a few older vintages of Grange from my cellar going back to 1990! We will feature four other vintages of Grange along with a dozen other wines from Penfolds to make this an incredible evening of Penfolds wines.
The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $295 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or aversions when you make your reservations and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.
Penfolds Australian Wine Tasting
With Special Guest Madelyn Reed
Saturday, November 4th
7:30pm
2020 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay Australia
2022 Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling Australia
2020 Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz Australia
2019 Penfolds Bin 600 Cabernet - Shiraz California
2019 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 704 Napa
2019 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet – Shiraz Australia
2019 Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon Australia
2018 Penfolds RWT Shiraz Australia
2019 Penfolds Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon Wine of the World
1990 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Australia
2003 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Australia
2014 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Australia
2017 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Australia
2019 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Australia
Penfold’s Grandfather Port
Dinner Menu
Cheese and Charcuterie Selections
Grilled Octopus with kalamata olives aioli and Basil red onion relish
Iberico Pork Loin with Creamy Grits, and Shiraz Reduction
Australian Lamb Chops with Jalapeno Mint Jam and Blistered baby fingerling Potato
Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee
The dinner is $295 + tax, call 954-523-9463 for reservations or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.
A bit of history about Penfolds:
Penfolds, a household word in Australia and one of the world's largest wine companies, traces its origins back to Magill on the outskirts of Adelaide at the foot of the Mount Lofty Ranges. It was at Magill that Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold, the founder of this great firm, first planted his vineyard. Dr. Penfold, the son of a Sussex vicar, the Reverend John Penfold, was schooled in England, and married his wife there in 1835. However, within a few short years, he decided to try his hand at life in the colonies and purchased a grant of land at Magill in South Australia for what was considered a large sum of money. With his wife and baby daughter, Georgina, he made the hazardous voyage towards the end of 1844. The family settled on their land at Magill and built a white-washed stone cottage which they named "The Grange". As well as practicing medicine and looking after his farm, Dr. Penfold planted vine cuttings which he had brought out with their ends dipped in sealing wax to keep the sap in the vines until they were planted. He did not approve of the quality of imported wine of the time so he made his own for use of his patients with anemia. Whether the wine was in fact any help to anemia is debatable, but this now discredited cure was the beginning of a huge enterprise. By the time of his death in 1870, Dr. Penfold had expanded his viticultural holdings and devoted more and more time to winemaking. In his twenty-six years in the young colony, Dr. Penfold had laid the basis of a veritable viticultural dynasty.
Although the wine business at Magill seemed to falter slightly after Dr. Penfold's death, by 1881 it was again flourishing; and Penfolds was becoming the most important wine producer in South Australia. Historical records reveal that the stock of wine at the Magill winery in 1881 was about 485,000 liters. At that time the total quantity in South Australian was about 1.4 million liters. Wine production continued to increase, and by 1885 trade was flourishing between Magill and all the states as well as New Zealand. One of Dr. Penfold's four grandchildren, Frank Penfold Hyland (born 1873), was responsible for guiding the company through almost fifty years of successful expansion. Frank entered the business in 1892 and spent three years in Europe studying winemaking. After Frank's death in 1948, at the age of 74, the company was administered by a Board of Directors for some fourteen years before it became a public company in 1962. Expansion continued throughout the sixties and seventies with the most significant expansion occurring in 1982 when Penfolds acquired the Kaiser Stuhl winery. Throughout the eighties Penfolds continued its aggressive expansion, swallowed up the huge Seppelt winery, and was said to control nearly 40% of all Australian wine production. Also in 1988, Penfold's flung its far-reaching tentacles abroad and purchased half of Sonoma County's Geyser Peak winery. Magill is still the headquarters of the Penfolds organization, but their winery at Nuriootpa is the major production facility. The "Grange", the family's small old white-washed stone cottage, is still maintained at Magill in its original condition and is used as a museum. Today Penfold's is a huge and successful enterprise. Indeed, a great deal of wine has flowed since Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold began to cure his anemic patients at Magill.
All the Penfolds wines we have in the store on SALE!!
2022 PENFOLDS BIN 51 RIESLING EDEN VALLEY
Price: $37.50 Your Price: $33.00 Quantity in Stock: 9
Bin 51 captures many of the attributes of the Eden Valley locale. The region’s high altitude and cool climate induces riesling with great finesse and elegance with a capacity for long-term cellaring. South Australia has gained worldwide recognition for producing world-class riesling and Eden Valley always features. In their youth, the wines possess scented floral and citrus aromas, with a mineral edge and marked natural acidity, contributing significantly to the palate texture and flavour. The evolution of Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling opens another chapter in a long history of Penfolds involvement in winemaking from this variety.
2019 PENFOLDS CHARDONNAY BIN 311 ADELAIDE HILLS TASMANIA TUMBARUMBA AUSTRALIA
Price: $42.00 Your Price: $36.96 Quantity in Stock: 10
Bin 311 Chardonnay truly reflects the winemakers’ mantra ‘we always go where the fruit grows best and where it best suits style’. The fruit sourcing has moved to cool-climate multi-regional; Adelaide Hills, Tasmania, Tumbarumba. In true Bin 311 style, it exhibits lemon/lime aromas and a mineral acid backbone, complemented by barrel fermentation and maturation in French oak.
2020 PENFOLDS SHIRAZ BIN 28 KALIMNA AUSTRALIA
Price: $30.00 Your Price: $26.40
2018 PENFOLDS SHIRAZ BIN 28 KALIMNA AUSTRALIA
Price: $30.00 Your Price: $26.40 Quantity in Stock: 3
Kalimna® Bin 28 offers a showcase of warm climate Australian shiraz – ripe, robust and generously flavoured. First made in 1959, Bin 28 is named after the famous Barossa Valley Kalimna vineyard purchased by Penfolds in 1945 and from which the wine was originally sourced. Today, Kalimna® Bin 28 is a multi-region, multi-vineyard blend, with the Barossa Valley always well represented.
2018 PENFOLDS ST HENRI SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
2016 PENFOLDS ST HENRI SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 5
St Henri is a time-honoured and alternative expression of Shiraz, and an intriguing counterpoint to Grange. It is unusual among high quality Australian red wines as it does not rely on any new oak. Proudly, a wine style that hasn’t succumbed to the dictates of fashion or commerce. St Henri is rich and plush when young, gaining soft, earthy, mocha-like characters as it ages. It is matured in old, 1,460 litre vats that allow the wine to develop, imparting minimal, if any oak character.
2017 PENFOLDS RWT SHIRAZ BAROSSA VALLEY
Price: $149.00 Your Price: $131.12 Quantity in Stock: 2
2011 PENFOLDS RWT SHIRAZ BAROSSA VALLEY
Price: $125.00 Your Price: $110.00 Quantity in Stock: 4
2004 PENFOLDS RWT SHIRAZ BAROSSA VALLEY
Price: $190.00 Your Price: $167.20 Quantity in Stock: 12
Penfolds RWT Shiraz presents an admirable alternative to the multi-regional sourcing and American oak maturation that are hallmarks of Grange, expressing instead, single-region Barossa Valley Shiraz matured only in French oak. Its style is opulent and fleshy, contrasting with Grange, which is more muscular and assertive. RWT is made from fruit primarily selected for its aromatic qualities.
2019 PENFOLDS CABERNET SAUVIGNON BIN 707 SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $660.00 Your Price: $580.80
2016 PENFOLDS CABERNET SAUVIGNON BIN 707 SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $501.75 Your Price: $441.54 Quantity in Stock: 3
2004 PENFOLDS CABERNET SAUVIGNON BIN 707 SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $425.00 Your Price: $374.00 Quantity in Stock: 4
Bin 707 perfectly reflects the Penfolds ‘House Style’ through a cabernet sauvignon lens: intensely-flavoured fruit; completion of fermentation and maturation in new oak; expressing a Penfolds understanding of multi-vineyard, multi-region fruit sourcing. Bin 707 was first vintaged in 1964.
Full-bodied and with proven cellaring potential, Bin 707 retains a secure place among the ranks of Australia’s finest cabernets.
2019 PENFOLDS BIN 389 CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $72.00 Your Price: $63.36 Quantity in Stock: 12
2018 PENFOLDS BIN 389 CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
List Price: $72.00 Your Price: $63.36 Quantity in Stock: 20
2017 PENFOLDS BIN 389 CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $75.00 Your Price: $66.00 Quantity in Stock: 5
1999 PENFOLDS BIN 389 CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $115.00 Sale Price: $95.00 Quantity in Stock: 2
Bin 389 was often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’, in part because components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. First made in 1960 by the legendary Max Schubert, this was the wine that helped forge Penfolds reputation with red wine drinkers by combining the structure of cabernet sauvignon with the richness of shiraz. Exemplifying the judicious balance of fruit and oak, Bin 389 highlights the generous mid-palate Penfolds in known for.
2019 PENFOLDS BIN 407 CABERNET SAUVIGNON SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $81.00 Your Price: $71.28 Quantity in Stock: 4
2018 PENFOLDS BIN 407 CABERNET SAUVIGNON SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $75.00 Your Price: $66.00
Winery Notes Launched 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.
2010 PENFOLDS SHIRAZ MAGILL ESTATE SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $195.00 Sale Price: $155.00 Quantity in Stock: 8
1997 PENFOLDS SHIRAZ MAGILL ESTATE SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $160.00 Sale Price: $125.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
The expression of Shiraz from a single vineyard, the original Magill vineyard to the East of Adelaide, with the fruit crushed, fermented and matured on-site at the original Penfolds Magill winery, established in 1844. An elegant, medium-weight style with velvety texture and fine tannins, matured in both French and American oak.
2003 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $675.00 Sale Price: $565.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
2015 PENFOLDS GRANGE BIN 95, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $900.00 Your Price: $792.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
2016 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $900.00 Your Price: $792.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
2017 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $800.00 Your Price: $708.40 Quantity in Stock: 6
2018 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $800.00 Your Price: $704.00 Quantity in Stock: 12
(99 Points) This wine comes with high expectations—as does the vintage. The 2018 vintage across South Australia (and cheekily, we could probably extend the accolade to all of Australia) was excellent. It was warm, but without incident, and responsible for powerfully ripe, serious wines. Many producers made some of their best wines in this vintage. So here, to the 2018 Grange: there is spiced raspberry, lashings of salted licorice, red curry paste, layers of forest berries, rendered lamb fat and crushed pink peppercorns to start. In the mouth, the tannins close around the fruit with the same polish and seamlessness as the 2008, possibly the 2004? Very different vintages, but there is a textural similarity for me. This is polished and glossy and so very pretty. It contains 3% Cabernet Sauvignon this year, and 69% Barossa, 18% McLaren Vale and the balance from Clare Valley. Each of the regions brings with it its own characteristics. Barossa brings the red dirt, blood, deli meat and rust. McLaren Vale brings the plush purple fruits with a side of meat and licorice. Clare brings the polish, the opulence and the velvet texture. With their powers combined, this is an extraordinary Grange. One of the true greats, which will only get better as it ages. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2019 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Price: $800.00 Your Price: $704.00
2004 PENFOLDS BLOCK 42 KALIMNA CABERNET SAUVIGNON, BAROSSA VALLEY, AUSTRALIA
Price: $1250.00 Sale Price: $1000.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
(97 points) It's not known exactly when the Kalimna Block 42 was planted but there are suggestions that the vines existed during the latter part of the 19th Century. They could be the oldest Cabernet vines in the world, although the famous Metala Cabernet vineyard in Langhorne Creek was known to have been planted in 1891 so could very well pre-date Kalimna. Regardless, I've been there and the vines are truly old. Only very rarely does Penfolds release this as a single vineyard wine, when the Cabernet is so fabulous it can't possibly be blended. The 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon was such a vintage. Matured in 100% new American hogsheads for 13 months, it displays a very deep garnet-purple color and profoundly earthy / gamey aromas over black cherry preserves, creme de cassis plus scents of leather, pencil shavings, Mediterranean herbs, black truffles, underbrush and black olives. The elegant, medium-bodied palate is tightly-knit and led by structure with a high level of grainy tannins, very high acid and a long earthy finish. Approachable now, it should continue to evolve and drink to 2025 . Wine Advocate # 192 Dec 2010
NV PENFOLDS CLUB TAWNY
Price: $17.00 Your Price: $14.96 Quantity in Stock: 8
The best value in the fortified wine section! Australia's most popular fortified wine is a tawny noted for it's mellowness and consistency. A blend of vintages oak matured at Penfolds' Kalimna cellars, in the Barrossa Valley. The palate is rich and vibrant displaying ripe spicy fruit, toffee and walnuts framed by smokey oak with a lifted cleansing finish.
Penfold’s Grandfather Port NV
List Price: $100.00 Your Price: $88.00
With each vintage, varietal batches are selected for Grandfather. These batches are individually aged in seasoned old oak casks before being blended together at 14 years of age. This blend is then introduced into the ‘Grandfather Solera’. This Solera consists of six stages that are designed to fully integrate all components offering consistency and freshness with a final minimum average blended age of 20 years.
Beautifully presented in an exquisite gift box featuring a Penfolds stopper and certificate of authenticity, Grandfather Rare Tawny is a highly coveted gift for life’s special milestones.
Penfolds NEW Wines of the World
The latest invention from this landmark Australian wine producer.
These are the first wines of their kind to be made anywhere on the planet Earth today. Leave it to Peter Gago and his winemaking crew around the globe to think of such a collaboration where you take the best grapes from South Australia and combine the wines with the best from Northern California. The parent company that owns Penfolds also owns Beringer, Beaulieu, Hewitt wineries and some of the top vineyards in both wine regions to combine the winemaking talents and the grapes to produce a new line-up of top wines that showcase the best of both worlds.
I was a bit skeptical when I heard about these wines and at first thought that it was an unnecessary endeavor but after tasting the wines I can see where they are going with this project. Combining the winemaking talents of both wine producing countries is intriguing but then to take some of the top Cabernet Sauvignon from Northern California with the best Shiraz from South Australia. The story is here but the wines speak for themselves.
PENFOLDS NEW CALIFORNIA COLLABORATION THREE PACK #21C8
Price: $285.00
These three wines are featured in this gift box.
2019 PENFOLDS BIN 600 CABERNET SAUVIGNON SHIRAZ NAPA PASO ROBLES
Price: $52.50 Your Price: $46.20 Quantity in Stock: 30
Bin 600 is intrinsically linked to Penfolds beginnings in California, a narrative that now spans more than twenty years. In 1998, Penfolds imported a heritage selection of vine cuttings from South Australia’s esteemed Kalimna and Magill Estate vineyards, and planted them in Californian soil. The original name of the Camatta Hills vineyard was Creston “600” Ranch, a special place in the Penfolds California timeline for it serves as a reference point to the start of our American journey. Creston Ranch is now honored in the wine’s name, Bin 600. In recognition of Penfolds history within our Californian wine story, grapes from the original 1998 vine cuttings feature in this cabernet shiraz blend. A blend that has been revered and championed by Penfolds in our modern winemaking era.
Wine Watch Tasting Notes: A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Syrah aged in a combination of new and old American Oak 45% Napa 35% Sonoma 20% Paso Robles. A pretty nose of sweet cherry and plum fruit with notes of sweet tobacco spice and dark chocolate and marshmallow notes nice complexity on the nose. A bright and fruity wine with smooth round tannins and a good hand of that spice from the nose lingering through the finish. Finish 40+ Excellent
2019 PENFOLDS BIN 704 CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA AUSTRALIA
Price: $73.50 Your Price: $64.68 Quantity in Stock: 17
Steeped in Penfolds winemaking tradition yet still embracing modernity, Bin 704 seeks to redefine Napa Valley cabernet through a Penfolds lens. Being mindful of varietal nuances, regional essence and silk-like textural definition, the wine is nurtured in French barriques for maturation. Impressive is the cyclical nature of viticulture and winemaking, and Penfolds recognises that different hemispheres often end up being the mirror image of the other. The name Bin 704 draws inspiration from the “mirror” or “reverse” image of its Australian Bin 407 stablemate, a wine which also respects varietal expression.
Wine Watch Tasting Notes: This wine spends 16 months in a mix of new and old French Oak 100% varietal with a combination of this groups top vineyard sites and this wine is classic Napa Valley with notes of dark currant and cherry berry fruit, cigar box spice and some toasty oak spice vanilla and graphite notes nice complexity here on the nose. A big and chewy wine with lots of everything in proportion and some dry tannins at the end but lots of fruit to match. Finish 45+ Excellent +
2018 PENFOLDS BIN 149 CABERNET SAUVINGNON SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NAPA
Price: $157.50 Your Price: $138.60 Quantity in Stock: 25
Penfolds Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon seeks out northern hemisphere excellence via meticulous vineyard and block selection, reinforced by flagship-worthy South Australian cabernet sauvignon. The result is distinctive, and of distinction. House Style is in the building blocks of Bin 149, a name derived from the percentage of South Australian cabernet sauvignon synergistically woven into the blend. Napa Valley regional sourcing seeks to showcase strong tannic foundations, dark fruit intensity but with the added dimension of a unique “worldly” disposition. Matured in French and American oak, this release highlights Penfolds commitment to quality.
Wine Watch Tasting Notes: They use both Napa and Australian fruit in the blend aged for 16 months in both French and American Oak and this wine has a good amount of rich currant and cassis berry fruit a hint of fresh herbs and toasty oak spice, nice complexity on the nose. A big and chewy wine with lots of everything and has a good amount of tannins here ripe and round with layers of fruit, spice and some terroir here from both Napa and the best fruit from both Barossa and Coonawarra, some dry tannins on the finish. Finish 50+ Most Excellent +
The Grange equivalent from Napa and South Australia, a unique wine of the planet Earth! Australia meet California!!
2018 PENFOLDS QUANTUM BIN 98 CABERNET SAUVIGNON SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NAPA
Price: $735.00 Your Price: $646.80 Quantity in Stock: 13
Penfolds Quantum Bin 98 is the continuation of a twenty-year endeavor from when Australian vine cuttings were planted in Californian soil. A Wine of the World that encapsulates a bold blending alliance, Quantum reveals a wine that shows wisdom, crafted with conviction but also embedded in the “quality-first” philosophy that underpins Penfolds flagships. The wine serves as the most powerful expression of our blending style and leads the charge in Penfolds ambition to seek out parcels of intense flavor, structural tannins and equal parts grace and complexity. Northern and southern hemispheres bring prized cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley and pedigreed shiraz from South Australia, respectively, into each other’s realm. Not adhering to expectations and de rigueur.
Wine Watch Tasting Notes: A more lifted bouquet and this has 13% Shiraz from the best vineyard sites from all over South Australia, violet floral notes with dark cherry and currant berry fruit very well endowed with lots of everything American and French oak with sweet tobacco spice and pretty vanilla spice, dark chocolate. A big and chewy wine with lots of everything and a very rich and layered wine with a long-layered finish that goes on and on, an amazingly complex wine with lots of everything and in proportion. This wine needs a decade in the cellar and will be better on the 2nd or third day after opening. Finish 50+ KILLER
A bit about the New California Collection from Penfolds:
“More than twenty years have elapsed since Penfolds winemakers first started seriously exploring the viticultural landscape of California, sampling an array of wonderful and inspiring wines. Between 1998 - 1999, vine cuttings from some of Penfolds most esteemed South Australian vineyards were selectively planted in Californian soil. These vines are thriving today and play a symbolic part in an endeavor that celebrates making wine in a different hemisphere ... ‘the Penfolds way’.
A quality-first approach underpins this inaugural release, led by the flagship 2018 Quantum Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon. This blend has assembled parcels of prized cabernet sauvignon rom sone of the Napa Valley’s best vineyards and pedigreed shiraz from South Australia. The 2018 Quantum instantily translates “Wine of the World” evidenced both in the glass and rhetorically.
This first-release of our four wines strives to extol an otherworldliness hovering above California terra firma. Beguilingly, two of these blends are altogether different, yet not really poles apart. Indeed, this quartet certainly manifests an aspirational continuum of our past/present/future. Yet one thing remains overtly consistent – across all wines the red stamp of Penfolds proclaims a unique mode of fruit selection, an innovative winemaking ethos, and a House Style imprint…a philosophy unrestricted by vine, border or continent.
A new chapter. Many pages still to write…Penfolds next 175 years.”
Peter Gago – Penfolds Chief Winemaker
During the 1998 – 1999, a selection of Magill Estate and Kalimna heritage vines were planted in California soil, at Block 30 of the newly purchased Camatto Hills Estate, Paso Robles.
Camatta was formerly known as Creston 600 Ranch prior to the 1997 acquisition and in 2001, the 11.5 acre Block 30 (the original and most prized block of the Estate) was fully propagated.
Over the years, Pnefolds winmakers have worked on the ground in California, from the recently retired Senior Winemaker Steve Lienert (39-year tenure at Penfolds), who participated in California harvests two decades ago, to current Chief Winemaker Peter Gago, senior Winemaker Steph Dutton and winemaker Andrew Baldwin.
Experimental Penfolds Camatta Hills vintages occurred in 2006 and 2007, however these bottles were never commercially released by Penfolds. Today, a total of 90.8 acres of the vineyard is planted equally with Kalimna and Magill vines.
Over the past three years Penfolds has sourced grapes from the best of our California vineyards to compliment Penfolds House Style and deliver exceptional and distinctive quality wine.
Winemakers spent time meticulously selecting fruit from California vineyards to including Napa Valley AVA’s: Oakville, Diamond Mountain District, Howell Mountain and Rutherford Grapes were also selected from Camatta Hills, Paso Robles, from the original vine cuttings planted in 1998-1999.
Focus, curiosity and the great promise of the 2018 harvest delivered exceptional fruit and blending options.
Penfolds California Collection wines are made in the Napa Valley, with Penfolds winemakers on the ground, in the cellars and in the vineyards.
Penfolds availed purpose-fitted winemaking fermenters in the Napa Valley and Paso Robles. This allowed the use of varied and time-honored Penfolds winemaking techniques withing the winery, to optimize the contribution of regional characters with a healthy overlay of Penfolds House Style. Tanks were equipped with heading-down boards and imported AP John Barrels from South Australia were selected to uphold style.
Significant effort was made to guarantee Penfolds winemaking techniques were sensitively incorporated into this California setting – respectful of local fruit, tannins, terroir.
Penfolds winemakers have also benefited from the expertise, input and support from the team on the ground in California across winemaking and viticulture.
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