Best Penfolds wines: A selection of our top scorers
It's not all about Grange: here are our top scoring Penfolds wines from vintages in the past decade, including new reviews from a re-tasting of the 2010s by Sarah Ahmed and ratings from the launch of the 2018 Penfolds Collection.
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Australian brand Penfolds. Most wine lovers will of course know Penfolds Grange, the flagship wine that appears in the Langton’s Classification and is considered a ‘first growth’ of the so-called new world.
Expert reviewer Sarah Ahmed has just re-tasted the Penfolds Grange 2010 for Decanter Premium subscribers and awared it 99 points; high praise indeed, and you can read her full note on the Grange 2010 here.
But there is naturally more to Penfolds than Grange. Sarah Ahmed re-tasted several of the brand’s top wines from the lauded 2010 vintage, including the super-rare single block, single vineyard wine Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz 2010.
And Anthony Rose recently tasted the latest releases from Penfolds 2018 Collection.
In 2017, Penfolds released g3, a three-vintage, Grange ‘super blend’ matured in oak for more than a year. ‘2008 is the solid anchor, 2012 brings a lovely elegance, a sheen, poise, a foil, and the 2014 brings a freshening up,’ said Penfolds’ chief winemaker, Peter Gago at the time of the launch.
Continue reading below the wines
Decanter’s best Penfolds wines by score:
View all of Decanter’s Penfolds tasting notes
More about Penfolds
Now owned by Treasury Wine Estates, Penfolds was founded back in 1844 by Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold, who planted vine cuttings at the Magill Estate near Adelaide.
The operation quickly expanded, and by 1907 it was South Australia’s largest winery.
The bin numbers are a relic of winemaker Max Schubert’s experiments in the 1950s with different parcels of fruit which each had unique bin locations. Grange, which became their flagship wine, was designated Bin 95.
Both Grange and Bin 707, a Cabernet-based sister to the flagship wine, feature in the ‘Exceptional’ tier of the Langton’s classification of Australian wine.
To support their portfolio of ageworthy wines, Penfolds has hosted recorking clinics around the world since 1991, allowing collectors to have their older vintages assessed by the winemaking team.
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Penfolds, Grange, South Australia, Australia, 2010
The deep spectrum of dark flavours – wild blackberry, mulberry, liquorice – speaks in an imposing baritone. The palate is rich, full and even, riding...
2010
Penfolds
Penfolds, g3, South Australia, Australia
This new wine from Penfolds is a super-blend of Grange from casks of the 2014 and 2012 vintages, and the 2008 from bottle, matured together...
Penfolds
Penfolds, Grange, South Australia, Australia, 2012
A blend of 98% Shiraz and a leavening of just 2% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. This latest Grange is a...
2012
Penfolds
Penfolds, Grange, South Australia, Australia, 2013
A blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet, this is a stunning Grange which easily compares in quality to 2010 and 2012. It is big,...
2013
Penfolds
Penfolds, St Henri Shiraz, South Australia, Australia, 2012
<p>Labelled ‘Claret’ until 1989 says less about St Henri’s traditional dash of Cabernet and more about the elegance which derives from maturation in large, old...
2012
Penfolds
Penfolds, Magill Estate Shiraz, South Australia, Australia, 2015
This historic single vineyard wine, first produced in 1983 at the original Magill Estate just outside Adelaide’s Central Business District, is one of my perennial...
2015
Penfolds
Penfolds, Grange, South Australia, Australia, 2014
A perfect wine: extraordinary chypre and warm earth notes and the powerful fruit follows. Phenomenal Shiraz with 2% Cabernet Sauvignon.
2014
Penfolds
Penfolds, St Henri Shiraz, South Australia, Australia, 2015
St Henri Shiraz is an atypical Penfolds icon, an echo of the so-called ‘Hidden Granges’ when Max Schubert was denied new oak by the Penfolds...
2015
Penfolds
Penfolds, Bin 170 Kalimna Block 3C Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2010
This is only the second release since 1973 from Block 3C of Penfolds’ Kalimna vineyard, whose centenarian vines regularly contribute to Grange. Ringing the...
2010
PenfoldsBarossa Valley
Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2015
Once again, this displays the hallmark RWT style of generosity, pleasure and sheer Shiraz fleshiness. Sourced entirely from the Barossa and aged for 16 months...
2015
PenfoldsBarossa Valley
Penfolds, RWT Bin 798 Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2016
Developed in 1995 from a red winemaking trial, hence RWT, this is the quintessence of Barossa Shiraz, albeit in 72% new French rather than American...
2016
PenfoldsBarossa Valley
Penfolds, Bin 707, Cross-Regional Blend, Australia, 2015
A precise, correct and intense nose proffers florality, sandalwood and cassis. On the palate this is no less expressive, with a core of exquisitely sweet...
2015
Penfolds
Penfolds, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia, Australia, 2016
Eucalypt on the nose together with black fruit and leather. Tightly structured, there are layers of complexity to the flavours and texture for sure, but...
2016
Penfolds
Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2010
First made in 1997, elevage in French oak distinguishes this contemporary Barossan red from the pack. The super-intense nose and palate, still very primary, is...
2010
PenfoldsBarossa Valley
Penfolds, Bin 389, South Australia, Australia, 2013
A broodingly youthful "baby Grange" combining chocolate, cassis and blueberry Cabernet aromas with the sweeter, cinnamon, camphor and pepper notes of Shiraz but yet to...
2013
Penfolds
Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2014
I genuinely thought Peter Gago said ‘I love you too’ but no, the words, or rather letters, were RWT - no longer the Red Winemaking...
2014
Penfolds
Penfolds, Bin 389, South Australia, Australia, 2015
This Cabernet-Shiraz blend is often called ‘baby Grange,’ because parts of the wine are matured in barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. Fruit...
2015
Penfolds
Penfolds, Bin 144 Yattarna Chardonnay, Cross-Regional Blend, Australia, 2016
Penfolds’ white winemaker Kym Schroeter ranks among Australia’s top Chardonnay makers. This incisive Chardonnay – a multi-regional blend from Tasmania, Henty, Adelaide Hills and Tumbarumba...
2016
Penfolds
Penfolds, Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia, Australia, 2010
In a benchmark year for Cabernet Sauvignon, this lithe example deftly walks a tightrope of precision and power - specifically fruit power. It's laced with...
2010
PenfoldsCoonawarra
