Penfolds Collection 2024: Cabernet Sauvignon wines shine in new releases

History is the foundation on which Penfolds has built its success as an Australian winery of provenance. As the winery celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, the Penfolds Collection 2024 not only echoes this history, but also reinforces the company’s future as a globally minded wine producer.

To unveil these wines in Australia, media were invited to a private tasting at the historic Kalimna Vineyard – one of the most important Penfolds sites in the Barossa. It was a frosty morning in the middle of an especially cold South Australian winter.

These ancient vines have endured such conditions countless times through their 136-year life. Yet they still produce some of the finest and most distinctive Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia.

The setting underlined what Penfolds does best. Yet while its international reputation rests on distinctive Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon has shone brightest in recent vintages. Indeed outstanding Cabernet accounted for the best talking points of the Penfolds Collection 2024.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for the Penfolds Collection 2024 releases

Anniversary release

Supreme-quality Cabernet is the star component of a special new release, created to mark Penfolds’ 180th anniversary. Inspired by the legendary Bin 60A 1962, the superb Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz, features elite parcels of grapes from the esteemed 2021 vintage.

Chief winemaker Peter Gago emphasised that many previous Penfolds special releases paved the way for such styles to continue through subsequent vintages. It was a strong indication that other wines from Penfolds’ Coonawarra vineyards built according to this model could be expected in coming years.

Napa Cabernet

Smart treatment of Cabernet Sauvignon also defined the highlights of Penfolds’ increasingly impressive portfolio of wines made with grapes from countries outside of Australia. The fourth vintage release of Penfolds’ Californian wines has seen a significant step forward.

Each of four wines that feature Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon demonstrate more confidence and restraint.

Penfold senior winemaker Steph Dutton had smartly suggested issuing a single-vineyard wine from the 2021 Californian vintage: an elegant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from Howell Mountain vineyard.

‘It was a response to an extraordinary parcel of fruit,’ says Dutton. ‘It’s not typical of what you’d expect from Napa Cabernet – and it really signifies that we are prepared to make a very different type of wine from this region.’

Bordeaux blends

Cabernet Sauvignon is also the key component of two notable French collaborations. The FWT 585 is a Bordeaux blend featuring Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot. While the ambitious Penfolds II combines Dourthe Bordeaux Cabernet with Penfolds Coonawarra Cabernet.

But the most unorthodox and curious use of Cabernet is in CWT521. This is the first release of a blend from two Chinese vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon from the southwestern Shangri-La region in Yunnan Province and Marselan from the northern Ningxia Province.

Penfolds fortified and spirits winemaker Matt Woo has overseen the Chinese wine trial project. He has great enthusiasm for the potential of Marselan, which is a hybrid of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.

‘We are only just coming to appreciate the potential of the generous Marselan flavours,’ he says. ‘But this wine points us in an exciting new direction.’

Wines in the 2024 Penfolds Collection will be released globally on Thursday 1 August.

Penfolds Collection 2024: scores and tasting notes

Wines are listed in score order, sparkling, white, then red

Related articles

• New Torbreck releases
• Cullen Wines: 2024 Ancestral Wine releases 
• By Farr: Revered Australian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay