Very deep, saturated red/purple colour, with mocha, espresso coffee aromas, charred oak adding to the panoply of empyreumatic nuances.The wine has tremendous concentration and fleshy richness, power and drive and mouthfilling properties. The tannins are firm and coat the mouth without being too assertive. A majestic shiraz.
96 points, Huon Hooke (October 2018)
Unlike the Kalimna Shiraz, which is a multiregional blend, the 2016 Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz comes from that specific subregion of the Barossa Valley. It's a clear step up and a lovely wine, with bold berry fruit flavors framed by cedar and vanilla. It's full-bodied and plush, with that generous Barossa Valley character married to the dense Penfolds house style. Not exported to the U.S.
94 points, Joe Czerwinski (October 2018)
This is a Marananga of fine-grained, structural confidence, with the juicy, spicy red and black berry fruits of the district uniting with classic milk chocolate to compelling effect. A core of impressive, focused fruit integrity carries from start through long finish. A great Marananga with a strong future before it. Drink 2026-2036.
94 points, Tyson Stelzer (October 2018)
Medium deep crimson. Intense mulberry, cassis, blackberry aromas with underlying savoury ginger oak complexity and hints of sage and cloves. Well concentrated wine with dark plum, mulberry, blackberry fruits, slinky dry tannins, attractive mid-palate richness and ginger, mocha oak notes and some meaty complexity. Finishes chocolaty firm with bitter sweet chinotto notes. 94 points – 14.5% - Drink 2020-2035.
94 points, Andrew Caillard MW (October 2018)
The oak turns slightly resiny here; the dials on the amplifier have been spun. Said oak is matched to rich, potent, blueberried fruit and wide dirt roads of tannin, the net effect both mouthfilling and impressive. Okay. We’re getting serious here. We’ve been jabbing away but this wine throws a hook. It teeters on the edge of balance, it’s the first wine up the Penfolds hierarchy in need of more time to find it rhythm. It will, it will.
93+ points, Campbell Mattinson (October 2018)
Delicious. There is a superb lushness and depth of fruit here which is decadent and also controlled and it is this counterpoint between exuberance and complicity which will give the drinker so much pleasure over many years. There are chocolate, coffee, Turkish Delight and also cherry liqueur notes here which make my palate go into overdrive. There is the trademark 2016 velvetiness here and also a trace of coolness which refreshes the finish, but overall, this is a moreish and alluring Bin 150 and it nails the Marananga theme perfectly.
18.5+ points, Matthew Jukes (October 2018)
Colonel William Light, the South Australian colony’s Surveyor-General, named the Barossa in 1837 after the site of an English victory over the French in the Spanish Peninsular War. In the mid-1800’s Silesian and English immigrants settled in the area. The Barossa itself comprises two distinct sub-regions: Eden Valley and the warmer Barossa Valley floor at 270m.The Barossa Valley enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate characterised by hot dry summers and relatively low rainfall. Cool sea breezes from the Gulf of St Vincent modify the temperature, however hot northerly winds can occasionally dominate creating considerable vine stress. Many older established vineyards are dry-grown, but supplementary irrigation is also extensively used. The valley is comprised of rich brown soils and alluvial sands. A long history of uninterrupted viticulture in the area means the Barossa valley is home to Australia’s largest concentration of old-vine Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre with many over 100 years old. Although most famous for Shiraz, the Barossa can also produce fragrant and deliciously fruity Grenache blends and beautifully rich, chocolatey Cabernet Sauvignons.
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.
