Penfolds new releases 2012: Penfolds Bin 138 2010, Penfolds Bin 128 2010, Penfolds Bin 28 Kalmina Shiraz 2009, Penfolds Bin 407 2009 and Penfolds Bin 389 2009

If you notice advertisements, you will have noticed that Penfolds released their new "bin range" wines in Australia this week.  Penfolds is now part of the Treasury Wine Estates' stable following its demerger from Foster's Group Limited, and stands in its own right as one of the world's largest wine makers.  The long continuous history of many of its wines, and the breadth of their availability, continue to make Penfolds' wines of general consumer interest, so here are my thoughts.  Prices appear to have ticked up for each of these releases compared with last year.

Penfolds Bin 138 2010, Barossa Valley
The Bin 138 is a grenache shiraz mourvédre, with percentages of 50%, 27% and 23% respectively, all sourced from the Barossa Valley.  It is a bright purple in appearance.  On the nose, it is a medium-pronounced expression of vanilla oak, herbs, strawberries and chocolate.  The palate displays medium length, vanilla oak, medium acidity and soft tannins.  This wine is an early drinking style, that is ready to drink now.  Despite the winemaker's notes saying that the oak is barely perceptible, I found it the most obvious feature of the wine.  84 points (good)

Abv: 14.5%
Price: $27.55
Vendors: everywhere, including Dan Murphy's and Vintage Cellars
Website: http://www.penfolds.com
Tasted: March 2012

Penfolds Bin 128 2010, Coonawarra
The Bin 128 is made wholly from shiraz sourced from Coonawarra.  It is bright purple in colour, somewhere between medium and pronounced in terms of its intensity of colour.  The nose is complex, with notes of white pepper, dried herbs, lavender, rose petals, and has a medium intensity of expression.  It is quite youthful.   The palate is dry, shows medium-high acidity,  medium length and tannins and a crunchy dried herb note intermingled with plums.  This wine shows well, and reminds me of a Rhône Valley wine.  87 points (very good)

Abv: 14.5%
Price: $27.55
Vendors: everywhere, including Dan Murphy's and Vintage Cellars

Website: http://www.penfolds.com

Tasted: March 2012

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2009, South Australia

The fruit for this 100% shiraz is sourced from all over South Australia - Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale and Robe.  It is a bright purple in colour.  The nose has an attractive opulence to it, with aromas of plums, spice (nutmeg), vanilla bean, vanilla, in a layered medium intensity expression that promises much.  The palate is dry, with evident tannins that are powdery and chalky, oak, medium-high acid, and flavours of plums, dark plums, pepper and some woody overtones.  Frustratingly, I feel that the chalky, oaky and woody flavours that intermingled with the fruit on the palate somewhat undid the highly attractive promise offered by this wine's aroma.  This may however sort itself out with time in bottle.  85 points (very good)

Abv: 14.5%

Price: $27.55

Vendors: everywhere, including Dan Murphy's and Vintage Cellars

Website: http://www.penfolds.com

Tasted: March 2012

Penfolds Bin 407 2009, South Australia

The Bin 407 is made wholly from cabernet sauvignon, and from fruit sourced from all over South Australia - this time, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Robe, Mt Benson, Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley.  The wine is a bright purple in colour.  The aroma is a medium intensity and youthful expression of iodine, blackcurrants, herbs, bouquet garnis, chocolate and dried tea leaves.  Tasted blind, I would certainly have said it was from Coonawarra despite the rainbow of regions the wine's grapes are sourced from.  The palate is dry, with medium-high acid, medium-long length, oak, black fruits, medium-high tannins, drying wood extract and vanilla.  This very structured wine is not ready to drink, but I think it is built to last. 89-90 points (very good/extremely good)

Abv: 14.4% (ooh look, a wine that isn't 14.5%abv!!)

Price: $46.70

Vendors: everywhere, including Dan Murphy's and Vintage Cellars

Website: http://www.penfolds.com

Tasted: March 2012

Penfolds Bin 389 2009

The Bin 389 is a blend of 51% cabernet sauvignon and 49% shiraz with fruit sourced again from all over South Australia - Padthaway, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and Robe.  It is a bright purple in colour.  Its nose is a medium-pronounced intensity expression of herbs, dried tea, vanilla pod, spice (sweet cinnamon) and blackcurrants that is at once youthful, opulent and complex, suggesting some balance.   The palate is dry, with medium acid, medium-high tannins and medium-long length which in a layered manner integrate with plums, dried basil and dried thyme.  The acidity seemed to be a little separate at times.  This wine is also somewhat unapproachable in its youth, but is plainly built to last, and appears to be very good indeed.  91 points (extremely good)

Abv: 14.5%

Price: $54.65

Vendors: everywhere, including Dan Murphy's and Vintage Cellars

Website: http://www.penfolds.com

Tasted: March 2012

Bream Creak Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009

Pinot noir, frustrating grape that it is, was true to form with this wine.  I have a fond recollection of drinking an exemplary bottle of a Bream Creek Vineyard's pinot noir received as a gift, but from a year unhappily unrecorded.  It may have been the 2005.  I naturally hoped that this bottle, spotted in a local independent retailer's store, might gracefully accommodate my expectations.

Break Creek is located roughly due east of Hobart, on a ridge near the Tasman Sea.  It is very cool climate territory if we factor in both latitude (42.8 degrees south) and the cooling effect of the cold sea currents that the equivalent latitudes in Europe do not enjoy care of the warm Gulf Stream current.  The aroma of the 2009 is a quite closed expression of herbs, potpourri and red cherries.  The palate has, not unexpectedly, high acidity, medium length, light tannins, and a softness of mouthfeel that ultimately suggests a lack of structure.  Sweet cherries emerge with time in the glass, tending towards cherry sauce.  Ultimately, a pleasant wine that is good, but does not hit the heights that I was perhaps unreasonably hoping for.  83 points (good)


Abv: not recorded
Price: $33
Vendors You can still buy this wine directly from the winery
Website: http://www.breamcreekvineyard.com.au
Tasted: December 2011

Barossa Valley Estate E&E Black Pepper Shiraz 2002

Barossa Valley Estate is a cooperative company based in the Barossa Valley that is wholly owned by growers.  It was a joint venture for some years with BRL Hardy (and then Constellation Wines), but that arrangement came to an end with Constellation Wines' sale of its interest to Barossa Growers Holdings on 31 March 2011 (its joint shareholder in the business).

BVE's E&E Black Pepper shiraz is their most well known offering.  The 2002 is a bright ruby colour with quite some intensity in its shade.  It has a developing aroma of baked plums, wood, varnish, spice and a sprinkling of pepper.  The palate is dry, with soft tannins, a full body, medium-high acidity (I'll return to this in a moment), medium to long length, and pronounced intensity flavours of dark plums, baked blackcurrants, pepper, and a touch of a bouquet garnis and thyme.  This is a very good wine due to its length and fruit quality, though I felt its acidity a little out of balance, sitting somewhat separately from the remainder of the wine.  A mere quibble in view of the bigger picture.  92 points (extremely good)


Abv: 15%
Price: $70s
Vendors: Not found.  You may find it at auction.
Website: http://www.bve.com.au
Tasted: February 2012