Maybe they’ll make wholesale to China low enough that it can still hit shelves around $700 even with the new tariff.
John Glas wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 8:58 pm
It will be in a closeout bin near you for $400 in a year.
Still won’t buy it
$200? ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Oh I don’t know…
a haw haw haw haw
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Treasury Estates, which owns Penfolds and a bunch of other labels, is aiming to restructure their company and they feel the name ‘Penfolds’ has a very strong and positive name recognition in the US and worldwide. This probably sits at the core of these new bottlings. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, but my guess is that they’ll be more successful with this launch than those on this board believe - but I guess time will tell.
The $700 wine does seem a bit like a ‘gimmick’ - but the same can be said about lots of other wines out there, too.
Cheers.
All the large portfolios are trying to expand upmarket with their current holdings.
KJ did this with Copain. They bought the label and then told Wells he could have any vineyards/blocks he wants and farmer them the way he sees fit. Then that fruit is sold under a premium Copain label for $40+ instead of used in KJ chardonnay for $10. I thought this was an excellent strategy.
Treasury is sitting on Berringer and Sterling assets which are terribly under performing. So tell the Penfolds guys they can do whatever they want with the fruit and “launch” Penfolds as a California label. As for the pricing, which is silly, they will sell some but not a lot. Maybe they don’t want to sell a lot initially, just make a really nice wine and build up a premium brand name then launch a second label behind it in the future in mass. The reason I think this is the strategy is because a $700 wine would not move the financial needle inside Treasury’s enormous portfolio, it would be a rounding error. Heck, I would just rename Sterling’s winery to Penfolds and really get after it.
$700.
I can’t imagine the audience for it.
Slap a 100 point score on this wine and that audience will buy it.
I believe part of the selling point of the Palmer Historical is that the Syrah was sourced from Chave.
It’s certainly a gimmick, but historically the two were occasionally blended together, so this is a bit of a throwback curiosity.
That pricing/cachet/positioning idea may be what’s up. But I have my doubts about Treasury’s ability to do anything with it. Beringer was a fine label. It’s one of the oldest wineries in Napa, it made a good high-end wine and it made millions with its white Zin. They could have done what Coppola is trying to do with Inglenook - restore the luster, while keeping the low end. And man do they have some low end - rosé Zin/Chardonnay, white Merlot, red Moscato, Moscato/Zin, pomegranate spritzer, etc., - their entire Main and Vine collection. Seems to me that collection devalues their higher end stuff - I’d give it a different brand name entirely.
And Penfold’s already has a lot of lower end wines, albeit “lower” relative to Beringer’s Main and Vine may not be accurate. But people know Grange. And blending Shiraz/Cab isn’t necessarily controversial. But anyone who is going to spend $700 would likely be more interested if Penfold’s had either used their own vineyards from the same continent. I’m not interested at $700 no matter where it’s from, but I’d still be intrigued if the Aussies had blended some grapes from the N. Rhone and Bordeaux, or from Paso, Napa, etc. This seems like a misfire.
But as mentioned, maybe it’s just a rounding error and they got us talking about Penfolds, which may be the entire point.
Interesting thought. I’d guess they will label it as a single vintage wine, which would mean the spring harvest from Aussie, wine made ~6 months ahead of California. They may or may not put it in barrel in Aussie, but I’d bet they bulk it into intermodal tanks for shipping across the Pacific to CA, maybe 6000 gallons lots at a time. Lots of food commodities move that way, tropical juices, coffee/cocao beans, bananas, etc… The big footprint in wine is the bottle weight, and other bulk packaging, that happens pretty much regardless of vineyard location. A ~45 pound case of 12 x 750ml bottles typically has ~20 pounds of liquid wine, and overall takes up ~3 times as much volume. Not that the bulk wine hauling across the ocean is insignificant, though the life cycle math probably would say it’s a small fraction. Once in the bottle in California I’d expect they distribute just like any other wine made there, even when labelled Penfolds.
And just in from Reuters:
Australia’s Treasury Wine to overhaul business, sell assets as Chinese tariffs bite
Treasury will reorganize into three divisions: Penfolds, Treasury Premium Brands and Treasury Americas. Treasury will sell low priority brands and other assets. The restructuring was unveiled as the world’s largest listed winemaker reported a 43% slump in first-half net profit.
So they’re dumping the Main and Vine from Beringer and they’re coming up with this $700 wine.
Hail Mary pass?
As I noted, it’s cheaper than Grange, which is $850 from the winery.
If they’d priced it above Screagle, I might be interested. Depends on helicopter access.
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Huon Hooke has written some notes on each wine and also mentions that the Bin 98 is priced identically to Grange ($950 AUD).
Penfolds Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz 2018
Made from 78% cabernet, 22% shiraz, all from California—Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles, in the proportions 45/35/20. The bin number 600 is a nod to the previous name of the Penfolds Camatta Hills vineyard, which was formerly the Creston 600 Ranch. This is where Penfolds planted their first vines in California, back in 1998, with heritage-clone cuttings from the company’s key Barossa Valley vineyard, Kalimna. In addition, Gago says Penfolds also has access to several vineyards that have supplied grapes to the likes of Beaulieu Vineyards, Stag’s Leap and Etude. (AUD $90)
Penfolds Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Composed of 88% Napa and 12% Sonoma Valley grapes. The bin number is the mirror of the South Australian cabernet Bin 407, recognising that the two hemispheres can be seen as mirror images of each other. (AUD $120)
Penfolds Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
A blend of Napa Valley and South Australian cabernet sauvignon which seeks to enshrine the Penfolds ‘house style’. Why Bin 149? There is some suggestion that that was the price in US dollars! (AUD $220)
Penfolds Quantum Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Made from 87% cabernet, 13% shiraz. The Australian grapes are A1 grade fruit from Barossa Valley and Coonawarra. The American cabernet is from Oakville and Diamond Mountain, subregions of the Napa Valley. Says chief winemaker Peter Gago: “It’s very much the Grange philosophy: open fermenters, heading-down boards, into barrel at the end of fermentation (contrary to the traditional Californian technique of long post-fermentation maceration on skins)”. (AUD $950)
I expect these will sell in the UK market as well. IIRC Penfolds has a reasonable rep there.
As with all of their offerings (excluding their Bin Chardonnay and Yattarna), I’ll pass.
WS had a Zoom w Peter Gago today. I just found out a few minutes after it ended. Would have liked to ask him about it.
Well suckling didn’t rate it 100 so my guess is nobody will
In the Wine Advocate, Lisa Perotti-Brown had a review and a detailed information on the wine. 87% California grapes, mostly aged in American oak. She noted that it is made very similarly to the Grange, which I suppose isn’t surprising. She ends with: “To manage expectations—this doesn’t taste like Napa or South Australia. It doesn’t even taste like the 2018 vintage here in Napa. It really is its own thing, which I suppose is the point.”
WA at 97+ so there is potential for a 100 with that “+”?
I just got an offer on some of these from Total Wine’s Concierge Sales:
Bin 149 - $134.97 (1-5 bottles) and $127.47 (6+ bottles)
Bin 704 - $62.97 (1-5 bottles) and $59.47 (6+ bottles)
Bin 600 - $44.97 (1-5 bottles) and $42.47 (6+ bottles)
Also from Total Wine Concierge: the Bin 98 for $594.97