Introduced in 1999 (originally as Eden Valley Reserve Bin Riesling), Bin 51 (from 2006) captures the attributes of the Eden Valley, adjacent to the Barossa Valley. The region’s altitude and cool climate consistently produces Riesling of great finesse and elegance with a capacity for long term cellaring.
"Power, delicacy and longevity"
- Huon Hooke at the Bin 51
tasting held for The Rewards of Patience #7 (2013)
Bin 51 is typically fragrant with intense lime and rose petal aromas and fine, cutting acidity. It develops complexity and richness with age without losing clarity, freshness or linear acid structure. Grape parcels are batch-vinified in steel tanks and bottled early under screw-caps to preserve pristine fruit characters, freshness and natural mineral quality.
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.
Pale colour. Classic pure lime camomile aromas with herb garden notes. Well concentrated supple wine with lovely deep set generous pure lime, passionfruit, camomile flavours, extra-fine bitter chalky textures, mid-palate volume and long fresh indelible mouth-watering acidity. Finishes minerally with superb fruit persistency. Buoyant and delicious to drink with lovely richness and zip. Really can’t get much better than this. Will develop and unfold for years.
97 points, Andrew Caillard MW
A very striking, Eden Valley nose with white flowers and stones, as well as lemon-blossom aromas. The palate has a super fresh, steely resolve with intensity and glassy, seamless structure.
94 points, jamessuckling.com (August 2019)
As expressive and bright as ever. Limes, lemons and florals, almost into sorbet territory. An itch of chalk, and only that. Squeaky clean. A rush to the fennel seed jar. In perfect shape and condition, as it always is. Not a problem, not a care.
93 points, The Wine Front (August 2019)
Incredibly citrusy on the nose, the 2019 Bin 51 Riesling boasts an exciting mélange of tangerine, lemon, lime and grapefruit. Bottled just a week prior to tasting, it seemed to be suffering no ill effects, showing terrific balance and a lithe, medium-bodied feel on the palate, followed by a crisp, racy finish. One of the best Bin 51s I've ever tasted, it's approachable now but with at least a decade's worth of longevity.
93 points, Wine Advocate (August 2019)
"Low yielding old vines and dry weather in this vintage have contributed to a dry, stainless steel-fermented Eden Valley white whose fresh floral and citrussy aromas show the faintest hints of brown lime and kerosene. This leads into a palate of ripe, fuller-bodied fruit than the 2018 vintage. It's both juicy and refreshingly crisp, with Cox’s apple and citrus flavours and an appetisingly crisp, dry finish. Indulge with prawn, crab or other shellfish."
89 points, Decanter (July 2019)
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.
