Yattarna 2020 Penfolds

Professional reviews

Robert Parker (98)

The 2020 Yattarna Chardonnay is an exercise in floral restraint, streamlined power and palate-staining intensity of flavor. The wine undulates over the mouth and through the long and lingering finish. Yattarna is routinely a sophisticated expression of Chardonnay—one of Australia's finest—and the 2020 season is the perfect backdrop for the wine. If you headed into this wine expecting a big, powerful, obvious wine, you would be sorely mistaken. The power is coiled within the folds of phenolics and volumes of fruit in the mouth. Sixty-eight percent of the wine is sourced from Tasmania, the balance from Adelaide Hills; the clonal selection is largely Bernard clones 95 and 96. It is scintillating and composed, elegant and poised, but so seductively concentrated that it sort of forces you to sit back and contemplate it. At 12.5% alcohol, it is weightless; the power undeniable.

Jancis Robinson (17)

68% from Tasmania, 32% from Adelaide Hills. Aged eight months in French oak barriques (86% new).
Peach and ripe apple. Delicious oatmeal and spice on the nose and palate, definitely a lighter expression than previous vintages – but there is still a core fruit concentration that underpins the quality. Painfully young, and perhaps a year or two more will bring more balance and flesh.