Penfolds Icon & Luxury Release Tasting Part 1– make way for some serious Chardonnay!

on 05/05/2010 at 7:00 am

Last week, though a judging day, wild horses would not have kept me away from Penfolds’ Icon & Luxury Release Tasting. Penfolds house style famously emerged from the constraints of a fortified wine culture when the iconic flagship, Penfolds Grange, was created by Max Schubert in the 1950s. And Schubert’s philosophy “true excellence is a constant and endless journey, not a destination,” holds equally true today. When I tasted Grange 2004 last June, I was struck by its elegance and exceptionally vivid purity of fruit compared with some of the earlier vintages also shown (see my report here). Though my experience of tasting Grange is sadly limited, no doubt viti/vinicultural improvements account for this as much as youth and vintage vagueries.

I’m on stronger ground when it comes to Penfolds flagship white wine, Yattarna, whose very name derives from the Aboriginal for “little by little.” Compared with earlier, broader and oakier vintages I’ve tasted, the just released 2007 dances like a butterfly, with no trace of a “sting” from acid or oak! Why? Since the first vintage in 1995, the percentage of new oak has decreased dramatically from 100% to 35% in 2007. Quite right when it now comprises 100% cool climate fruit (Yattarna originally included a percentage of McLaren Vale fruit). And in 2007 – a challenging, heat-spike flush vintage – Tasmania’s vivid, well-defined fruit accounts for almost half the Chardonnay, with the balance from Adelaide Hills and Henty. Not just any Tasmanian fruit mind – it hails from the Derwent Valley in the cooler south, from whence Chardy was first sourced in 2006. If this is not music to your ears, fear not. For lovers of showier, oakier wines, Penfolds has the wine for you in the shape of Penfolds Reserve Bin 08A, and a funky number it is too. Here are my tasting notes:

Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2007 (Tasmania/Adelaide Hills/Henty) – a surprisingly delicate, pure wine that comes in at a feather weight 12.5% abv. Exceptionally well-integrated oak and acidity allows the pretty citrus blossom, ripe, perfumed melon and star-bright citrus fruit (mandarin) to shine. Though long and linear, there’s none of the hard edge acidification and oak sometimes bring. A delight and proudly Australian in its purity, ripeness and depth of fruit expression. (Inoculated ferment; matured 9 months in French oak, 35% new). RRP £48

Penfolds Reserve Bin 08A Chardonnay 2008 (Adelaide Hills) – this wine reveals more readily the hand of the winemaker with its oak-tautened structure and flinty, smoky reductive note. Adelaide Hills packs a punch too in the form of tightly coiled white peach edged with vibrant lemon and lime zest. Long and persistent, there’s a lovely leesy, savoury tang and bite to the finish. Impressive. (Barrel fermented on solids with native yeasts and aged in French oak, 65% new; 100% malolactic fermentation, 13% abv). RRP £34

The new releases have been rolled out to retailers from 1 May, including BBR, Majestic, Waitrose, Selfridges, Harrods, Tesco and other independent wine merchants.

In Part 2, I’ll focus on the reds: Grange 2005, St Henri Shiraz 2006 (the 50th commercial release), RWT Shiraz 2007, Magill Estate Shiraz 2007 and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. Meantime, if you’d like to find out more, follow this link here for Peter Gago’s presentation of the 2010 releases and, if you click here, you can download an electronic version of The Rewards of Patience (6th ed.), an extremely detailed, beautifully written account of Penfolds’ history and wines with vintage by vintage tasting notes.