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PENFOLDS Reserve Bin 19A Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills 2019 Bottle
penfolds
PENFOLDS Reserve Bin 19A Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills 2019 Bottle
About this wine
Penfolds Reserve Bin 19A is a cool-climate Chardonnay made from fruit sourced in the Adelaide Hills. The first vintage was in 1994, with the Reserve Bin A part of that new wave of Penfolds Bins that arrived in the mid 90s, including the multi-region Chardonnay Yattarna and the single region Shiraz RWT.
The Reserve Bin A takes its number from the vintage, slightly out of step with the Penfolds naming system. And that’s a good thing, as the Reserve Bin 19A is its own wine. It has plenty of Penfolds seriousness wrapped up in a white wine package that’s single-region and cool-climate specific.
These days, it’s a complex wine with Michelin patisserie chef level lemon meringue characters, and plenty of verve in its early years. Very expressive, pure and driven, the Reserve Bin A Chardonnay tends to spend more time on the palate than it does in the glass.
Ned Goodwin MW and Langton’s Head of Domestic Buying Ramon Gunasekara discuss the newly released whites, including Yattarna Chardonnay, from the Penfolds Collection 2020.
Wine Details
Classification and Scores
Taste Profile
Winery and Region
Delivery and Returns
All wine bought and sold through LANGTONS is held securely in our state-of-the-art, temperature-controlled National Warehouse, just outside of Melbourne, ensuring fast and efficient shipping to your nominated address Australia-wide.
Shipping Charges Within Australia
All orders placed are subject to a flat shipping fee as outlined below:
Metro Areas | Regional Areas |
$18.50 | $23 |
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Expert Review
Andrew Caillard MW
Pale gold. Classic flinty, grapefruit, nectarine aromas with underlying vanilla roasted almond notes. Generous in flavour yet tight in structure with pure grapefruit white peach nectarine flavours, creamy textures, savoury complexity and fresh persistent mineral acidity. Finishes long, sweet and crisp with light marzipan notes. Beautiful wine.
97 points (2020)
Expert Review
Ned Goodwin MW
"The gear has shifted into one of a nervous, mineral raciness. Aromas of lime curd and struck match. The oak, an adjunct, steering a juicy mid-drift into riffs on white peach and nectarine, offset by a gentle nougat to yoghurt creaminess. Lots of wine in little space. Meaning incredibly compact, kinetic and intense. There is much in store."
95 points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Tyson Stelzer
The transparency of chardonnay to articulately convey its terroir is remarkable indeed, and this wine tells the intricate story of the Adelaide Hill’s hot summer and mild autumn of 2019. There is a generosity and a determined reservation communicated in aromatic reluctance, ultimately emerging a day after opening, charged with all the tension of cool autumn nights. Maker Kym Schroeter considers 2019 to be up with 2017 as a cracking vintage for good sulphides in the Adelaide Hills. This struck flint reduction that we adore in Bin A wafts gracefully over a core of precise lemon, grapefruit and white peach, leaping forth triumphantly on the front and coasting into a long tail of beautifully poised acidity, backed with masterfully deployed, high-class cashew nut French oak. Another great hit in the grand legacy of Bin A.
97 points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Huon Hooke
Light, bright-yellow colour, with a first aroma of nutty, fresh oak, plus some smoky struck-flint notes, and the palate is very intense and refined, focused and dry, with a firm finish and good persistence. It's just a wee bit clinical and seems to need more time to come together fully. The fruit is in hiding somewhat at this stage. There is a well-judged whiff of sulfide adding to the appeal, and the palate has terrific intensity, focus and length.
95 points, The Real Review (July 2020)
Expert Review
Nick Stock
Stunning purity here, offering very expressive white peaches with a gently spicy edge, as well as lemons, yellow grapefruit and well pitched French oak. The palate has a very attractively focused shape with intensity and compressed, elegant yet powerful style. Layered, long and deep. Great balance.
95 points, JamesSuckling.com (July 2020)
Expert Review
Joe Czerwinski
Hints of struck match mark the nose of the 2019 Reserve Bin 19A Chardonnay, which comes entirely from the Adelaide Hills. Barrel fermented and matured in 80% new French oak, it's a richer, slightly riper-tasting expression of Chardonnay from Penfolds, with pronounced white-peach aromas and flavors supported by classy notes of pencil shavings and mouthwatering lime-like acidity. Medium-bodied and silky textured, it should drink well for 5-6 years, perhaps more.
93 points, Wine Advocate (July 2020)
Expert Review
Ray Jordan
A relatively high amount of new French oak has been used here to enhance and balance what is a remarkably powerful and concentrated chardonnay. In fact, there is 80% new. It gets some serious winemaking and it needs it. The barrel fermentation adds a deep richness to the concentrated fruit while lees stirring brings another layer. Has a smoky struck match aroma with a creamy nutty roasted cashew palate richness. A super wine and one of the best.
97 points, The West Australian (July 2020)
Expert Review
Decanter
Formerly an attention-seeking siren that won all the wine show trophies, this is a redefined style. The French oak is far less obvious, and its pungent stuck-match sulphide note is now less pronounced. The result is altogether more alluring, allowing the richness of the fruit to speak more clearly. Textures slide through many levels, the flavours rolling from a sharp lemon kiss at the front, through ripe, firm white peach, to a sensual lick of honey at the end. Discretion makes this year’s model an even sexier attraction.
94 points, David Sly, Decanter (July 2020)
Expert Review
Matthew Jukes
A square-jawed Bin A with undoubted opulence on the nose and also on the initial hit of flavour on the palate, but the gate comes down early doors and it leaves you with the notion that you have just been locked out of a very promising party. Unlike Bin 311, I think that this wine will segue smoothly into a ravishing beauty, given a few years, after all, it has an epic track record on its side. The fruit has flashes of white peach and Comice pear but the overriding theme is ‘white’, with blanche neige purity and a more than a little gusto under the bonnet. This is one of the most impressive and consistently excellent Chardonnays in the country and 2019 continues this impeccable track record.
19+ points (July 2020)
Expert Review
Campbell Mattinson
Flint and funk for sure but wow, does this wine have length. I doubt that I’ve ever written these words before: this is a chardonnay with a peacock’s tail. It’s pure chardonnay in its flavour profile, stone fruit and grilled nuts as matchstick warfare flies over the top, but it’s the incredible length of the finish that takes this wine completely out of the ordinary.
96+ points, The Wine Front (July 2020)
Expert Review
Jancis Robinson MW
Even richer, more leesy nose than Bin 311. Very flattering balance of citrus acidity and mealy ripe fruit. A little bit of heat on the end but clean and extremely well made. Accessible already.
17 points, JancisRobinson.com (June 2020)
Expert Review
James Halliday
Hand picked, whole-bunch pressed, part direct to barriques for wild ferment and 100% mlf, the balance via tank for brief settling before 8 months in French oak (80% new). A beautifully detailed chardonnay, white peach and pink grapefruit plus supple creamy cashew run through the very long palate. Rubs shoulders with the best in the land.
98 points, Wine Companion (July 2020)
Penfolds
Penfolds is one of the world’s most celebrated winemakers with an enviable reputation for quality at every price level. Christopher Rawson Penfold began it all in 1844. A doctor, with an eye for medicinal winemaking, he and his wife, Mary sought a new life in Australia with a vine cutting and a bold vision. The family purchased Magill, now a suburb of Adelaide, and set about inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. The Penfolds House Style emerged from this craft of fortified wine production and blending.
The success of Penfolds has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers who pushed innovation to bold new heights. Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange, Dr Ray Beckwith and their team pioneered: major advances in yeast technology and paper chromatography; the understanding and use of pH in controlling bacterial spoilage; the use of headed down/submerged cap fermentation and the technique of rack and return; cold fermentation practices; the use of American oak as a maturation vessel and perhaps most critically, partial barrel fermentation. The use of American oak and barrel fermentation is considered traditional Barossa winemaking practice, in large part due to the work of Penfolds.
Today, the art of blending remains integral to the Penfolds House Style - a unique combination of highly defined fruit aromas, ripe tannins, richness, power and concentration. The most powerful expression of this is the flagship, Grange, now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. Similarly, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, first released in 1960, is now considered the quintessential Australian wine blend. Improved vineyard management, site selection and winemaking brought about the subsequent releases of Penfolds wines such as Bin 707 and Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon – both highly acclaimed and collected wines to this day.
The Penfolds Philosophy is the accumulation of nearly 180 years of shared knowledge and continual refinement. This began with Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold, continued with Max Schubert, Ray Beckwith and generations of Penfolds winemakers leading to the current winemaking team, led by Peter Gago. Their commitment to constantly improving their work, whilst honouring the winemaking techniques of their predecessors, contributes to the consistency of style and quality that Penfolds is known for around the world.
