New Penfolds Collection rated: Grange 2014, St Henri 2015…

Anthony Rose reports on the launch of the 2018 Penfolds Collection, an annual release of ageworthy reds and whites including the latest vintage of Grange...

Fresh off Qantas’ 17-hour ‘kangaroo route’ direct flight from Perth to London, Peter Gago, Penfolds’ chief winemaker, strutted the stage of London’s Meridien Hotel on a warm and sunny Friday in late September with his by now familiar brand of self-deprecating panache.

The London launch of the Penfolds fine wine portfolio is accompanied by a weighty booklet with glossy bottle shots and, to underline the international feel, a page of information on each wine in German, French and English.

Scroll down to see Anthony’s tasting notes & scores

Notes in the booklet are accompanied by Gago’s fanciful stream of consciousness, with descriptions such as ‘liberated mulch’, ‘saltbush’, ‘buffed core’, ‘bakery artifact’, and ‘rhubarb not reported’.

The Penfolds Collection 2018 is pronounced as ‘a testament to our distinctive and recognisable House Style’, and how true that is. While best known for its panoply of bin-numbered fine red wines – with Grange and Bin 707 the king and queen of the chessboard – the tasting also showcased four whites.

The Penfolds Collection 2018 will include the 64th consecutive vintage of their flagship Grange.

Challenges

Detecting year on year changes in fruit sources, blends, proportions of oak and other subtle differences is a favourite pastime of Penfolds Collection loyalists. This year was no different but in response to a question from the floor, Gago emphasised the way in which climate change too was having an impact on his job as chief winemaker.

‘There are mammoth pressures with climate change’, he admitted. ‘There’s only so much that you can do with the viticulture, so we’re trying out variations including leaving some areas, using latitude and elevation – and saying a lot of prayers’.

Expressing great confidence in the 2016 reds (only St Henri Shiraz and Grange were from earlier vintages), Gago took the wines in brackets of three without commenting, before disclosing illuminating tidbits as if he were alone with you in the Penfolds tasting room.

The 2016 vintage

Following a warm, dry season and cooler conditions from mid-February, with some March rain delaying harvest in South Australia, the result was often smaller-than-average berries and saturated colours, creating reds so elemental that you wished that each had a 10-year-old sibling to taste side by side. Longevity, even in the case of the mid-range wines, comes with the Penfolds territory.

Penfolds must be rather pleased with its chief winemaker, not just for the fact that he received the Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List last year, but also because Gago has presided over a collection of fine wines whose stealthy price increases year on year have put a broad smile on the faces of its shareholders and made Penfolds a standout international wine company.

All the wines will be available in the coming months. In the UK, stockists were set to include Berry Bros & Rudd, Cru Worldwide, Bordeaux Index, IG Wines, Lay & Wheeler, Fine & Rare, Justerini & Brooks, Corney & Barrow, Harrods, Hedonism, Majestic, The Wine Society, Philglas & Swiggot, Laithwaites, Fraziers, Cadman Fine Wines, and The Vinorium.

The Penfolds Collection 2018:

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

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