Wines of the Week • 27 January 2021

Penfolds Chief Winemaker Peter Gago

Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2020 &
Penfolds Reserve Bin 19A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2019

Highly regarded for their reds, not enough credit is due Penfolds for their stunning whites. You will certainly sit up when either of these two riveting wines are in front of you. Blind or sighted makes no difference because their quality is irrefutable. Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2020 (first vintage 1999) conjures up a ripe yet zinging South Australian Riesling from high altitude Eden Valley that has an elevation of 460 metres. And a population of about the same number. It is, by South Australia standard, a cool climate region. Bright light straw with a hint of green. Super duper aromatic! Floral, orange blossom, limes, apples, a whiff of granite on a hot day, all of that sealed with ripe freshness. Concentration, intensity, and persistence. The first vintage of Reserve Bin A Chardonnay was 1994 and the early vintages included fruit from Tumbarumba, not entirely Adelaide Hills. Since 2003, the wine is on screwcap. Quality is paramount. Accordingly, Reserve Bin A was not made in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2011. Bin 19A 2019 is bright straw in complexion. On the nose, struck match/gun flint with intense lemony fruit. Rich but ultra tensioned. In a blind tasting with Yattarna, it would not surprise me if some will prefer Bin 19A. Aged eight months in French barriques, 80% of which was new, the oak is imperceptible. OUTSTANDING!!

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