PENFOLDS Bin 7 Coonawarra Cabernet-Kalimna Shiraz
It is a tradition at Penfolds to experiment, research and develop new wines. The large number of mostly one-off, bin-numbered wines produced, beginning in the 1950s, is testament to a company diversifying away from its core business of fortified wines. In the 1960s, the primary aim was to make ‘show wines’, but the program also resulted in the development of current-day staples like Bin 707 and Bin 389 and, more recently, of Bin 407, RWT Shiraz and Yattarna Chardonnay.
In effect, the first two ‘Special Bin’ wines were the then-experimental 1951 Grange and the ‘control wine’ Max Schubert made alongside it so he could see what the wine would be like matured in a single, old 4500 litre cask rather than the new, 300 litre American oak barrels in which he put the ‘real’ Grange.That wine is now forgotten, but, said Schubert (in 1979): ‘It did... set the guidelines for the production and marketing of a whole range of special red wines which have been sought after, vintage by vintage, to this day’.
Schubert’s successors, the late Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago, continued the tradition, making small-batch wines (1000 dozen or less) for comparison with existing styles, to try out something new in the way of varietal or regional combinations or simply to spotlight a brilliant parcel of fruit. Some may be forgotten in time, but others are considered among the greatest Australian wines of all time.
Brick red. Chocolate/menthol aromas with hint a of green cedar. Sweet chocolate/menthol fruit, finely textured but gripping tannins and a firm finish. Still looking good. Rare and eclectic. Andrew Caillard, Langton's (1999).
The 1967 Bin 7 Coonawarra, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra and Shiraz from Kalimna in the Barossa Valley, was rated 93. The wine is still very much intact, with sweet, charcoal-infused blackberry and cassis flavours intermixed with some notes of cedar, spice box, and licorice. A very complex, full-bodied, opulent wine, it is fully mature yet seems very fresh and intact. 93 points, Wine Advocate (2002).
Deepish brick-red/red colour. Fabulous bouquet of roasting meats, pan scrapings, beef stock. And some honeycomb nuances. Great nose, but the palate was initially slightly disjointed. It improved in the glass. Finished up showing wonderful complexity of flavour. Tannins are quite assertive and there is a quite grippy finish. Also has tremendous length. A great drink -- amazingly good for a wine of its age. 97 points, Real Review (8/2012).
Penfolds
Penfolds is probably the most extraordinary of the world’s wine brands with an enviable reputation for quality at every price level. The original Penfold was an English doctor who, in 1844, planted grapes at Magill, now a suburb of Adelaide. However, it was not until the late 1940s that Penfolds began to forge a reputation for red wine.
The Penfolds house style emerged from a fortified wine producing culture and evolved as a winemaking philosophy which has had a profound effect on the entire Australian wine industry. Many of the techniques initially adopted to make Penfolds Grange would become part of the wider Penfolds winemaking culture. The number of techniques employed in the research and development of Penfolds wines is astonishing. Max Schubert and his 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. Nowadays, the use of American oak and barrel fermentation for instance is considered traditional Barossa winemaking practice!
Today, Penfolds house style embraces the concept of multi-regional blending, optimum fruit quality, the use of fine-grained American or French oak, barrel fermentation and maturation. Overall, the Penfolds style is about highly-defined fruit aromas, fruit sweetness, ripe tannins, richness, power and concentration. The number of iconic wines that have emerged from the Penfolds stable over the years is remarkable. Bin 389 a Cabernet Shiraz blend released in 1960 is now considered the quintessential Australian wine blend. Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz and Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz released in 1962 pre-empted the contemporary enthusiasm for regional definition by about 25 years. Improved vineyard management, site selection and winemaking brought about subsequent releases of Bin 707 and Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon. The Penfolds Wine Making Philosophy is the accumulation of more than half-a-century of knowledge and winemaking practice initiated by Max Schubert and subsequently refined by Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago. Their collective commitment to multi-regional and vineyard blending contributed to a consistency of style and quality that has cemented Penfolds reputation as the foremost producer of premium age-worthy red wines in Australia.
