The Penfolds Collection 2019: Grange 2015 & St Henri 2016 but no Bin 707

On his usual whirlwind visit to London (in Paris the day before, leaving for Australia the day after) to present the 2019 Penfolds Collection, chief winemaker Peter Gago was more ebullient than ever, buoyed by Penfolds’ new venture into Champagne with the excellent, albeit under-the-radar, house Thiénot.

In its 175th anniversary year, Penfolds releases its 2019 Collection this autumn with two notable absences from the 16-strong range of bin-numbered wines: its iconic Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon and Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.

Scroll down to see the wines in the 2019 collection

The fact that these two stalwarts of the Bin range have been dropped from the team tells you something about the integrity of the brand. For most companies accounting to their shareholders (Treasury Wine Estates), not releasing wines of such reputation and value would be commercial suicide.

For chief winemaker Peter Gago however, it’s the other way round: releasing wines from vintages he feels doesn’t justify their reputation would itself amount to a loss of integrity and commercial cynicism.

Gago is keen to acknowledge the contribution of the Penfolds’ team to the impressive Bin range. ‘Penfolds’ winemakers employ a personal responsibility and great pride in the wines they make’.

The result is a collection of individual personalities (the wines, not the winemakers…) conforming to a greater or lesser extent to a known house style. The collection showcases multi-regional, multi-varietal blending and multi-vineyard blending.

The wines

The bulk of this collection is based on the plentiful, late 2017 crop which generally enjoyed a long, cool ripening period and dry harvest without the drought so often associated with Australian vintages in recent years. The result was a crop 5% bigger overall than 2016, producing elegant, high quality wines. In total, the Penfolds Collection 2019 spans five vintages: 2015-2019.

As it so often does, the Bin 389 shone, as did the RWT, while the St Henri 2016 stood out this year – but then it‘s a personal favourite and generally does show well.

Grange was Grange, but with its near Port-like ripeness, it would be fair to say that it wasn’t one of my favourites, even if Grange lovers will lap it up – give me 10 Bin 389s for the same price.

As for the whites, they really are distinctive, and distinguished, drops.

Tasting the Penfolds Collection 2019:

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