Penfolds

[brappy]

If anyone has the chance to taste some Penfolds wines with Peter Gago, I highly suggest not missing it. He knows how to present wines.

Tasted through almost 50 wines today and took notes on a few. Mind you I was working so the notes are sparse at best.

Here goes:

Yattarna, Chadonnay '03: Great balnce, wonderful acidity

Yattarna chardonnay '04: even better than the '03. oak in both are just a hint in the background but still enough to add great complexity to the wines. The '04 just had slightly better fruit

Bin 311, Chardonnay, '06? The oak is a bit more here but other than that a great wine with wonderfully fresh fruit

Koonunga Hills Shiraz/Cabernet

'76 - I posted on this a couple of years ago and was able to taste again today. The wine seems to be on the downcline but is still showing great fruit. For a wine that was released at about $1.35 a bottle....Great stuff

'90 and '91 I lump these together because of the similarity of the wines. I couldn't tell which one i liked better, but both were pretty amazing. Neither is falling apart. On the contrary, they are both very much alive and have many years left in them. Great fruit with a tannic backbone along with great balanced acidity keep these babies humming. They seem to be in thier window now but are not in any threat of falling. Beautiful!

'96 Good but certainly not the previous two

'06 Also good. There's a touch of green here that I wonder about.

Cellar Reserve Pinot Noir

'97 Possibly the best Pinot Noir I've had from Australia although that's probably not saying much. This baby has such concentrated fruit while remaining elegant to its core. The amazing thing about this wine is I don't believe its even in its window yet. It needs several more years to shed its tannins which are still a bit rough. But the acid and fruit in this wine are plentiful enough to keep this baby going. A real eye opener! My guess is this has another 10 to 15 years left. i wouldn't even touch another one for at least 5 years.

'06 I believe this wine was closed for business even though it was open for a couple of hours before tasting. Everything was there, but not enough, almost as if something was hiding from me.

Cellar Reserve Sangiovese

'03 Great fruit and balance

'06 Not as ripe as the '03 but still showing promise.

Bin 138 Old Vine Shiraz, Grenache, Mouvedre

'98 Great fruit, Juicy, Rich, Good complexity along with great acidity; Lengthy finish

'05 Good solid wine; Grenach is a bit more pronounced in this one.

Bin 28 Shiraz

'90 Wow, wow, wow! This finish does not stop; great fruit, great wine

'98 Great wine also showing a bit more oxidative qualities; great concentrated fruit

'04 Great qpr (all I wrote here)

Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz

'90 Good - little less ripe than the B28

'98 Same thoughts

'04 Liked this the best of the 128s. Ripe but not overripe fruit. Nice, lengthy finish

Bin 407 Cab

'90 Definate green notes but not distractingly so. Just gave complexity. the fruit was big enough to overpower the green anyway. Very nice wine.

'98 Different green note but also very similar to the '90. Very good wine.

'04 Some more great juice.

Bin 389 Cab/Shiraz -There was a couple of posts about this wine recently. So this may be a bit of an add-on.

'90 Absolutely Outstanding!!! Big nose, Big concentrated palate, long finish, sweet tannins. This one is drinking beautifully right now.

'96 Not quite the '90 but certainly not far behind... Tasted this from two seperate bottles. One out of cork and the other from a trial bottle of screw cap. Interesting news: NO real difference. If there was one, i was unable to detect it.

'98 Much bigger, stunning!

'04 Seems to be in the same style as the '98. Big, voluptuous, kick-patoutie (or whatever WW says)

St. Henri Shiraz

'90 Big, beuatiful, perfect Balance. Never ending finish

'96 Newer style; great concentration, beautiful fruit.

'03 Not quite the complexity of the prior two but still a great wine. What will age do to this one?

Magill Estate Shiraz

'98 Closest Shiraz to a Rhone in plavor profile of all wines today. This included some roasted meat notes. Great wine.

'04 Little more floral in character; no meaty qualities; but big decadent fruit. Great; Very different Than the '98

RWT Shiraz

'98 Huge wine; still heavily tannic - but oh boy, what flavors. This wine has years to go and can only get better adding complexity as it matures.

'04 YOunger sibling; very similar at a different stage

Bin 707 Cab

'90 as with the 407, some green is noted, but only as a complexity note. Fruit is just wonderful and the finish is a lengthy one.

'96 This one is stunning. similar notes but better balance.

'98 Interesting bottle. Maybe a bit off. showing a ton of sufer.... ithink

'04 Wow, NO green whatsoever, perfect ripeness; great age-worthy Cab. could easily pass for a Napa Valley Floor Cab.

Cellar Reserve Cab/Shiraz '93
Good fruit with cracked black pepper

Cellar Reserve Barrosa cab '05
Big Cab; sweet tannins

Cellar Reserve Barrosa Shiraz, Coonawarra cab
'05
Nice flavors but this one is in need of serious age.

Grange Shiraz/(small amount)Cab

'90 Balanced, Big sweet tannins - great acidity to balance the tasty sweet fruit.

'02 An obvious younger sibling

Both wines have this floral character on the nose and palate. almost like putting viogner in the final blend. Both are big wines. Quite Intense!

Bin 90A Cab/Shiraz '90
It seems as if the Cab is holding the blend together. The Shiraz part has great sweet fruit and is accentuated by the Cab. Well done.....

Tasted several others but was too busy to note anything. Other greats were:
Bin 60A '04
Block 42 '96 and '04
Great Grandfather (Port)
and others

A couple of things to think on:

1. Penfolds makes wine to age. I've heard this before but have never had an opportunity to test this out to such an extent. My biggest excitement came today with tasting the Koonunga Hills wines and realizing that even thier inexpensive wines are made to age. If someone is trying to build a cellar, this is a great place to start. I personally am buying a case each of the bin 407, bin 28, bin 389 and the koonunga Hills Cab/Shiraz and putting a ten year tag on these.

2. This is the 5th time I've tasted screwcap and cork wines that were bottled the same day with at least 6 years on them and have been amazed each time. It seems when the wine is younger, the screw keeps it fresher. But as the wine ages the aging qualities keep up with cork brother. This time the wine was 11 years old and no difference was detected. I will wait to see a 20 year sample to be completely sure.

Anyway, coming off of my 6th 15 hour day in a row. have to be at work tomorrow at 8am. Thankfully, it is only an 8 to 10 hour day.

mark (sorry so long)