The Penfolds Collection 2024 Top Six

 

The annual Penfolds release is here again, a moment in time that always makes us wonder where the last twelve months have gone! With a peerless fine wine pedigree, The Penfolds Collection 2024 has much to live up to in the year when the winery celebrates its 180th Anniversary. To celebrate this milestone Peter Gago and the team have come up with a very special and very limited release. So in time honoured LANGTONS tradition,  we present the wines our team love and those that you should add to your cellar.

 

LANGTONS Head of Wine and Spirits Ramon Gunesekara recently caught up with Penfolds Chief Winemaker Peter to get his inside picks on the very best of Penfolds Collection 2024

 

Penfolds Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2021 - 99KG 99TS 99HH 97CM 96AC 96HWC
We present our Top Six wines of The Penfolds Collection 2024 in no particular order. Except for our first pick, Grange is always our number one. Until now. It was always going to take something special to knock Grange off its perch, and the commerative and ultra-limited Bin 180 is that one. Penfolds Chief WInemaker Peter Gago told us last year that he was planning something very special to celebrate Penfolds 180th anniversary and wow, has he delivered. The legendary Block 5 and Block 10 Penfolds vineyards in Coonawarra are the source for this effortless and epic wine. Seasoned one year old French oak the cradle for a seamless blend of powerful, complex yet graceful cabernet and shiraz fruit. This is one of the greatest modern releases we’ve ever seen from Penfolds. Hyperbole? Only of the very best kind. 

 

‘The result is one of the finest wines of the modern era of Penfolds and the epitome and exemplar that less is indeed oh so very much more.’
Tyson Stelzer

 

Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Shiraz, South Australia 2020 - 1st Classified 98HWC 98JP 98AC 97CM 97TS
The showstopper, the wine that takes your breath away whenever a glass is poured. The 2020 vintage in South Australia was warm and dry, power and intensity available in spades. The genius of this wine is how Peter and his team have coaxed aromatic complexity, jaw dropping texture, the swagger and the fruit definition we adore from exceptional vintages of Australia’s most famous wine. This is classic Grange, a wine of undeniable power with the finesse of the world’s great fine wines. 

 

‘This release of Penfolds Grange feels true to itself; and as a result it’s seriously good.’
Campbell Mattinson

 

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, South Australia 2022 - 1st Classified 98AC 95TS 95JP 95KG 95HWC
Every year the ‘Baby Grange’ is one of the most highly anticipated wines of the annual release. When an esteemed critic like Andrew Caillard MW writes, ‘A magnificent Bin 389 with a long cellaring career ahead’, this anticipation rises to a crescendo. Sourced from a selection ofSouth Australia’s finest vineyards, the 2022 iteration of this wine carries on the ongoing theme: we will be talking about it in many decades to come. 

 

‘It's a ripper.’
Dave Brookes

 

Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2022 - 1st Classified 98KG 97HWC 97JP 96TS 96CM
If any of these wines in the Collection have a hard act to follow, it’s the 2022 Yattarna. The 2021 edition set a new benchmark for Australian chardonnay, awarded 100 points by Andrew Caillard MW. But ignore this release at your peril. The history of Penfolds is littered with wines that lived in the shadows before emerging to take their place in the upper echelons. This is one such wine. The cool climes of Tumbarumba, Tasmania and Adelaide Hills bring their very best to this powerful, age worthy expression of modern Australian chardonnay. Take a bow, Kym Schroeter. 

 

‘This latest release is one of the finest Yattarna’s I have seen. A world class, stunning Chardonnay…’
Ken Gargett

 

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz, South Australia 2021 - Classified 98AC 97TS 97HWC 97JP 95CM
Like clockwork, St Henri is back again with an exceptional vintage. This is a wine of history, of counterpoint, that tells the true story of vintage, sans adornments. Many of South Australia’s regions reported all-time great conditions for shiraz in 2021, the concentration, depth and power in this year’s St Henri is a testament to the quality of the vintage. The only drawback? Reduced yields across the board means this exceptional wine is in very short supply. St Henri was once the underrated dark horse of Penfolds annual releases. Today it as essential a purchase as Grange, Bin 389, 707 and Yattarna. Buy early to ensure you do not miss one of the best St Henris ever.

 

‘A very impressive St Henri that will stand the test of time. One of the standout wines of the 2024 release.’
Andrew Caillard MW

 

Penfolds Bin 707 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 - 1st Classified 98KG 97JP 97AC 97TS 96CM 96HWC
Coonawarra and Cabernet Sauvignon. When the weather gods are kind you can make some of the best wines in the country. 2022 served up a stellar harvest and Penfolds delivered a super vintage. Chief Winemaker Peter Gago could not be more enamoured, claiming the 2021 and 2022 vintages in Coonawarra the best since 1990 and 1991. A huge claim, but in Peter we trust! The 2022 707 is so good that Dave Ken Gargett, writing for Wine Pilot, lavished it with 98 points exclaiming ‘The 2022 707 is a worthy successor to the stunning 2021, at least its equal.’ There could be no higher praise.

 

‘This is a truly superb 707, finishing as intensely as it started. It will provide pleasure for the long haul, at least 20 to 30 years.’
Ken Gargett

 

There you have it. Our Top Six wines of The Penfolds Collection 2024. Do not miss your chance to fill your boots, and your cellar, with these iconic wines.