The 2020 Penfolds Collection has been released. Despite the unusual circumstances, Peter Gago was on hand via Zoom with customary enthusiasm, confidently describing the new collection as one of the finest in the three decades he has been at Penfolds.
For the majority of the wines it is the turn of the 2018 vintage, with the exception of St Henri 2017, which is always released a year later, and the great Penfolds Grange 2016. 2018, broadly speaking, was a hot year in South Australia, producing dramatic, richly-styled reds in tune with the opulent, perfectly polished Penfolds style. The star of the show though is of course Grange 2016, which in Peter Gago’s words, “may politely nudge the classic 2010 and 2004.” The Wine Advocate award it a lofty 99 Points, and say that “it is certainly on par with such vintages as 2010 and 2012,” the latter a Grange that was perhaps underappreciated at the time but one that we really loved. Similarly, 2016 was a moderate vintage, not overly hot with plentiful water reserves built up in the winter and early Spring. It is 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, produced from outstanding, isolated blocks in the Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley and Magill Estate (Adelaide Hills), raised for 18 months in 100% new oak.
Read MorePenfolds Grange 2016
The 2016 Grange includes 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and was sourced from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley, with a little bit from Magill Estate, in the suburbs of Adelaide. Aged in 100% new American oak (as always), it offers up trademark lifted aromas plus scents of vanilla, toasted coconut, cedar, raspberries and blackberries. Impressively concentrated and full-bodied, with an extraordinarily long, velvety finish, it's nevertheless reasonably fresh and tight, with decades of cellaring potential if properly stored. Certainly at least on a par with such vintages as 2010 and 2012, the big question is whether it will ultimately reach triple digits. – 99 Points, Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate.