Penfolds makes wine all over Australia. Now they are expanding their horizons overseas. For a few years now, they have been collaborating with Champagne Thiénot. The first joint champagne, a vintage 2012, was released in 2019, and Penfolds put an Australian touch on it. The dosage had been stored in oak barrels that Penfolds previously had used for their prestige chardonnay, Yattarna.
Penfold’s newest venture is in California, and the first wines in the California Collection are expected to be launched in March. There will be four wines from the 2018 vintage from vineyards in Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles. The prices range from $50 to $700.
Here, too, chief winemaker Peter Gago has inserted an Australian touch, even if it was not planned from the beginning (or was it?). When they did the blending, it turned out that a splash of Australian cabernet did the trick. So, the two most expensive wines, Bin 149 and Quantum Bin 98, contain almost 15% of Australian wine.
Read more about Penfolds’ California adventure here: winespectator
