Penfolds
It is no exaggeration to say that Penfolds is not just a winery, but something of a cultural treasure in Australia. Without it, winegrowing Down Under would not have the status it enjoys today. The company is located in South Australia and has a long history of winemaking, since 1844. Its flagship wine, ‘Grange’, is one of the most renowned and sought-after wines worldwide.
History
It's hard to believe, but the history of Penfolds actually began in 1844. At that time, English doctor Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold emigrated to Australia with his wife Mary. The couple settled in South Australia, in Magill, near Adelaide, to be precise. Dr. Penfold brought not only a large part of his household goods to Australia, but also a few grapevines that he had previously purchased in France. When he planted them, however, he had no intention of making wine, but rather a tonic for his patients. While Dr. Penfold had his estate built on his land and named it ‘The Grange’. The began planting more vines on his property. But this did not result in wine either. Until his death in 1870, Dr. Penfold did nothing but make fortified wine in the style of port and sherry, which he used as a tonic for his patients.
His wife Mary did not change this when she took over in 1870. Except that she no longer offered the products as tonics. In fact, for over a hundred years, the Penfold family produced exclusively port, sherry and brandy, shipping them mainly to Great Britain. It was not until 1945 that Jeffrey Penfold Hyland, the founder's grandson, completely converted production to table wines when he took over the family business. Penfolds' wine history is therefore impressively short.
The grapes of Penfold wines
There's no question about it: Penfolds and Shiraz are inextricably linked. Although it is no longer entirely clear which grape variety Dr Penfolds brought to Australia in the mid-19th century, it is believed that it was already Syrah, as Shiraz is called there. This is the only way to explain why this grape variety has been at the heart of most Penfolds wines from the very beginning. Over the decades, Penfolds acquired more and more Shiraz vineyards, not only around Adelaide, but also in renowned growing regions such as the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra.
At this point, it should also be mentioned that Penfolds is extremely knowledgeable about other grape varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon also achieves true greatness under the capable hands of the cellar masters. No less impressive are the Chardonnay wines, which are brimming with elegance! Here, too, the current cellar master, Peter Gago, has more than just a lucky hand. And hey! The cellar masters! Without them, Penfolds would not be where it is today: at the top of the Australian wine league.
Max Schubert and Penfolds
How important is Max Schubert's work for Penfolds? Well, extremely important. The significance of the Penfolds cellar masters can best be explained by the life of Max Schubert. In 1931, Max Schubert joined Penfolds at the tender age of 16 and began his career there as a messenger boy. Even then, he was fascinated not only by the vines, but also by the work in the cellar. When the Penfold family switched completely to viticulture in 1945, Max Schubert seized the opportunity and started working in the wine cellar straight away. He then went on to enjoy a meteoric career. By 1948, he had already been appointed chief winemaker.
This was followed by real milestones, not only for Penfolds, but for Australian winemaking in general. In the 1950s, for example, Max Schubert created the iconic wine ‘Grange’. He also introduced the BIN numbers for Penfolds wines in the 1960s, which remain their trademark to this day. In 1975, Max Schubert handed over his position to Don Ditter, but did not officially retire until 1982. Ditter's time at Penfolds was relatively short. He was succeeded as cellar master by John Duval in 1986, who was then replaced by Peter Gago in 2002. Like Schubert, Gago is a true visionary who has led Penfolds into a new era with numerous innovations. But before we take a closer look at his achievements, let's first focus on Grange and the BIN numbers in detail.
What is the story behind Penfolds Grange?
In 1950, Max Schubert took part in a study trip to Bordeaux that left a deep impression on him. And inspired him. Back in Australia, the chief winemaker at Penfolds wanted to create a wine that combined the best Shiraz grapes from all over Australia to showcase the potential of viticulture. It was to be a single-varietal cuvée, as Schubert was convinced that Shiraz was the grape that best expressed the Australian terroir. The name was also quickly decided upon. “Grange” is the name of the Penfolds family estate. Schubert also added “Hermitage” to the name in homage to the Syrah tradition of the Rhône.
The first vintage was the 1951 Grange, followed by others. What Schubert hadn't expected was that the wine wouldn't go down well. Wine connoisseurs found it too powerful and closed. Even the Penfolds board couldn't get to grips with the Grange Hermitage. In 1957, Schubert was even told to stop production altogether! The oenologist secretly continued working on his project and, in 1960, took it upon himself to present the first mature vintages to the trade press once again. It was a bold move – and the right one. As it turned out, Grange only reveals its full potential after a few years of ageing. The 1955 Grange alone won over 50 gold medals at the time. To this day, the wine has been honoured with numerous awards and regularly receives high scores from international wine critics. Max Schubert's Grange Hermitage is thus one of the great milestones in the history of Australian viticulture.
The best vintages of Penfolds Grange
This is of course a subjective opinion, but at Best of Wines we consider some of the best vintages for the legendary Penfolds Grange Bin 95: 1953, 1971, 1976, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020.
The BIN numbers of Penfolds wines: an explanation
Here, too, we must look to Max Schubert. It was he who introduced the BIN system at Penfolds in 1962. The ‘Batch Identification Numbers’ (BIN) originally referred to the storage locations in the cellar, but have evolved into a classification system for different wine lines.
Each BIN number stands for a specific style or origin of the wine – for example, Bin 389, also known as ‘Baby Grange’, or Bin 28 from the Barossa Valley. This system enables exceptional consistency and recognisability across vintages. It allows wine lovers to systematically taste their way through the Penfolds wine universe.
Is Grange the only iconic wine from Penfolds?
This question is very easy to answer: No! Over the decades, Max Schubert and his successors have created many different flagship wines. Of course, Grange is and remains the Penfolds superstar. After all, the Shiraz with BIN 95 is officially considered a cultural heritage of South Australia. That's something no other wine has achieved yet. But Penfolds BIN 389 is now also one of the great icons. The wine, which is also known as ‘Baby Grange’ because it is aged in the same barrels as Grange, is made not only from Shiraz but also from Cabernet Sauvignon. It delights with its fruitiness and structure. St. Henri, on the other hand, is a pure Shiraz. Unlike many other Penfolds wines, this wine is not aged in new oak barrels, but in large used wooden barrels.
Another Shiraz that regularly makes headlines is BIN 28 Kalimna, whose grapes come mainly from the Barossa Valley. This Shiraz also goes back to Max Schubert, who created it in 1959. The spicy and powerful wine is a great classic in the Penfolds range. Another icon is the Penfolds BIN 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. It is considered the counterpart to the Grange because it also has extremely good ageing potential and is in no way inferior to the Grange in terms of power and structure. And then there is the BIN 144 Yattarna Chardonnay, which proves that Penfolds can also conjure up great white wines. This Chardonnay is characterised by great elegance and freshness, complemented by subtle oak notes from ageing in oak barrels.
Penfolds: wines of the world
Although Penfolds is one of Australia's superstar wineries, it has actually been thinking beyond the continent for a long time. Although Max Schubert handed over his position as chief winemaker at Penfolds to Don Ditter in 1975, it was he who suggested that wines should also be produced on other continents. Schubert's vision was a ‘Wines of the World’ strategy that would cement Penfolds' international presence not only in the global wine market, but also in the world's most important wine-growing regions. Schubert's successor, Don Ditter, set the first milestone in the early 1980s. That was when the collaboration with the Geyser Peak winery began. This collaboration has resulted in four different wines to date. What makes them special is that the Quantum BIN 98 Cabernet Sauvignon contains 13 per cent Shiraz from Australia, while the BIN 149 Cabernet Sauvignon contains 14 per cent Australian Cabernet grapes. The BIN 704 Cabernet Sauvignon is made exclusively from grapes from Napa Valley, while the BIN 600 Cabernet Shiraz is a cuvée of different grape varieties from Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and Paso Robles.
In 2021, the current chief winemaker Peter Gago took Penfolds' ‘Wines of the World’ strategy one step further. Together with the wine company Dourthe, he has been producing the ‘Penfolds II’ cuvée in Bordeaux. This blend combines Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot grapes from Bordeaux with Shiraz from Australia. The base wines are vinified in their respective countries, then the Bordeaux wines are shipped to Australia, where they are finally blended and bottled. Incidentally, this effort is not for show, but necessary. French wine law simply does not allow a wine to be made with grapes from two continents.
Will Penfolds continue to expand ‘Wines of the World’? Definitely. Chief Winemaker Peter Gago is a big fan of Max Schubert's idea and is continuously developing it further. With the FWT 585, for example, Gago has created another Bordeaux blend directly on site. Here, the great classics Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot come together. A true Bordeaux, then, but thanks to Gago, it still has an Australian soul.
In addition, there is now also a red wine from China, the CWT 521! The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes come from the Shangri-La region, while the Marselan comes from Ningxia. So it is a genuine product of China. And yet it is unmistakably a Penfolds wine. Amazing!
How many wines does Penfolds produce in total?
Penfolds currently has an impressive 27 different wines in its portfolio. These cover all qualities and price segments, from simple everyday wines to legendary top-quality wines. However, the exact number of different wines changes regularly. Over the decades, new wines have been added and others that were no longer quite so contemporary have been removed from the portfolio.
In addition, there are always special editions or one-off projects. Because at Penfolds, they are and always have been keen to experiment. The good news about this wine extravaganza is that each BIN number is only ever assigned once. This means that wine lovers can always keep track of all Penfolds wines.
Just to name a few, the product range spans from the everyday Koonunga Hill to the Bin series, including Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz, Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. The next tier comprises RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz, St. Henry Shiraz, Magill Estate Shiraz and Yatana Chardonnay. At the very pinnacle is the flagship wine, Grange, produced annually and crafted specifically for long-term ageing.
Is Penfolds still family-owned?
No. Until 1976, the winery was actually run by the family, but then Penfolds was sold to the Tooth & Co brewery, which sold the business in 1982 to Adelaide Steamship, which already owned several other wineries. In 1990, Adelaide Steamshio sold all of its wineries to Southcorp, which was taken over by the beverage giant Foster's Group in 2005.
In 2011, they completely restructured and spun off all wine activities into the company Treasury Wine Estates, which now also owns Penfolds. And because Treasury Wine Estates is a public company, passionate Penfolds lovers can also buy shares, which are currently trading at just under £5. If that's not a guarantee of more fantastic Penfolds wines, what is?
