An oft-pilloried label I often find myself surprised by how well some of the Penfolds wines hold up over time and continually question why I don’t buy more of this mass produced wine in good to great years to set aside and forget.
It’s Christmas day and I’m not doing much more than lounging around waiting for dinner and watching MLB network (how many days until pitchers and catchers report???).
Pulled the cork on this one and there wasn’t more than 1/4 of an inch saturation with no streaking.
Nose is big on black fruits, cedar, some of the classic Penfolds “tar” as well as currant. Over the course of two hours this wine has gone from being a tad sweet to really well rounded, and pleasantly evolved.
This wine is a cab-shriaz blend that sees plenty of oak - and that oak is still here, though far more subtly than upon release- and the shiraz is providing structure as well as aromatic support to the cabernet.
For a wine that could have likely been found for between 8 and 14 USD upon release I do need to tip my cap to Penfolds and remind myself that mass production doesn’t mean lacking in potential or quality.
if points matter, and if you have any internal value to my palate, then 90-92. If you think I also know anything about wine then I’d also tell you I think this wine as 4-8 years to continue to mature in the bottle.
I for one, would like to try one a decade from now to see if the Shiraz or the Cabernet won in the end.