Penfolds 2015 Bin 389 Premium Australian Wine Review

Penfolds was established by Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold and his wife Mary in 1844. They purchased about 500 acres near Adelaide and planted vine cuttings they brought over from Europe. Dr. Penfold was busy with his medical practice so Mary operated the winery for many years. At that time, Penfolds was making mostly Riesling and fortified wines.

Penfolds is synonymous with Max Schubert, who started at the winery as a messenger boy in 1931. In the 1940s, Max went to Spain to study but took side trip to Bordeaux. He was so impressed that he wanted to bring back French wine making techniques and grapes to Australia. He became Penfolds' chief winemaker in 1948.

He was determined to make Shiraz his star grape. So in 1956, he made his first bottling of Grange. His superiors didn't like the wine. Undaunted, he continued to make and experiment with Grange between 1957-1959 and reintroduced in 1960. While experiment with Grange, he also created a Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend in 1960, which is Bin 389.

Bin 3889 is often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’, because the wine is matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. It takes grapes from various regions of South Australia, including grapes from Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Padthaway, Rob, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Wrattonbully .

This vintage is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Syrah. It was aged 12 months in American oak hogsheads.

For more information about this winery, please visit their website at https://www.penfolds.com/