2023 Penfolds Collection

 What Penfolds presents in August is quite a collection these days: 25 wines in fact. In addition, there is a Chinese wine (not available in Australia yet), and some cheaper wines, such as the terribly named Max wines.

I taste nine of their new releases at a new event, Penfolds Transcend. The wines are narrated on screen by Steph Dutton, Penfold's red winemaker, who will succeed Peter Gago, in my view. It was efficient and worked well. 

The 2023 Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling is a good Riesling with white flower aromas, and citrus and melon flavours. The wine has good drive and a mineral finish, a well executed, typical Riesling from Eden Valley (92 points).

The 2022 Reserve Bin A from the Adelaide Hills can be funky and spectacular in some years. This is not one of those. Apple blossom notes on the nose are followed by apple custard and pear flavours. This is quite a soft, opulent wine with good length and a wet stone finish (92 points).

The 2022 Bin 23 Pinot Noir is now exclusively made from Tasmanian fruit. There are quite a few flavours on the palate like strawberry, dark and sour cherry, cranberry. The key feature, however, are the firm dry tannins. This wine is not yet quite in the Penfolds DNA (92 points).

Then we come to the 2021 Bin 28 Shiraz, Penfold's workhorse. This is a rich wine with plum and mocca flavours, a bit of five spice as well. The core of this robust wine is quite sweet and juicy (93 points).

The 2020 FWT (French Wine Trial) 585 is a Bordeaux blend, Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. Blackberry, chocolate and licorice are the dominant flavours. There are savoury notes as well. Overall, the mouthfeel is soft and a little lean: more Bordeaux than Penfolds (92 points). 

The Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley is the much more powerful wine of course. It has excellent blackberry fruit purity. It has great balance between fruit and savoury flavours and finishes on fine grained tannins (94 points).

An absolute highlight was the 2021 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz. There are layers of dark berries; blueberry, blackberry, mulberry. Roasted meat flavours and spice add to complexity. The wine is seamless between the Cabernet and the Shiraz fruit, and fruit and savoury flavours. This dry wine,  is concentrated, yet can be enjoyed now. This is probably the best 389 I have ever tasted (97 points).  

The 2019 Grange is immediately recognizable. Blackberry and blue fruit, licorice, black olive and charcoal form the core. This is an intense wine with great depth, yet it is fresh and smooth. It is already drinkable. It will probably forever live in the shadow of the 2018, but it is a great follow-up (98 points).

After tasting Grange, the concentration tends to drop. Yet, the 2021 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon deserves attention. It is full-bodied, with concentrated blackcurrant and tobacco flavours. This is an elegant wine with an extra long finish (97 points).

Tasting a range of young Penfolds wines used to be hard work. Yet this was thoroughly pleasant. The oak influence has been dialed back, and freshness has increased.