2012 Penfolds, Magill Estate Shiraz, Australia

2012 Penfolds, Magill Estate Shiraz, Australia

Product: 20128125644
 
2012 Penfolds, Magill Estate Shiraz, Australia

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

I love this wine. In fact, of a 12-wine top Penfolds tasting (including Grange), it was arguably my favourite. Unusually for Penfolds, it is a single-vineyard expression of (100%) Shiraz and this comes through on its lifted, floral note, reminiscent of Cote-Rotie. Winemaker Peter Gago describes the lavender bushes lining the edge of the Magill vineyard and you can certainly detect their influence here. The nose could almost be mistaken for a Collioure and the dark blackcurrant fruit is mixed with an intriguing hint of elderflower. The palate is juicy but extremely elegant, and the masses of fine tannins are beautifully integrated. Made from fruit from 65 to 70-year-old vines, handpicked on 15th and 16th February 2012, this is a special wine indeed.
Catriona Felstead MW - Buyer

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate94/100
Very deep purple-black in color, the 2012 Magill Estate Shiraz is made with 100% estate fruit and is aged 15 months in 65% new French oak and 30% new American oak and 5% in one year old American oak hogsheads (for a total of 95% new oak). The nose opens to aromas of warm blackberries and black cherries very pure fruit scents plus plenty of cedar, cloves and a lovely spiciness of Sichuan pepper. Taut, vibrant and expressive with a touch of vanilla coming through on the palate, this medium-bodied Shiraz has firm and grainy tannins and a long, lively finish.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 31/10/2014 Read more
Other18.5
What you give away with one hand (St. Henri) you receive with the other (Magill), but in 2012 you will need two hands for this wine such is its magnificence. I have always been a Magill sceptic, waiting for the vintage which really sets my palate on fire. I liked the 2010 enormously, but in 2012 the recipe has finally worked perfectly and the results are staggering. The beautiful blackberry core possesses more smoothness and plushness than any of the wines on the list so far. The texture of this hedonistic Shiraz is awe-inspiring and the oak is sensational. There is only one theme here, the vineyard itself, and it is deafeningly loud and clear. 2012 Magill Estate Shiraz is a defining one plot wine and what it lacks in intricate detail is makes up for in tempestuous enthusiasm and skill. It is the Jimi Hendrix of the range – no need for the band, one instrument is more than enough.
Matthew Jukes -matthewjukes.com - October 2014 Read more

About this WINE

Penfolds

Penfolds

Penfolds enjoys an iconic status that few New World producers have achieved. Established in 1844 at the Magill Estate near Adelaide, it laid the foundation for fine wine production in Australia.

The winemaking team is led by the masterful Peter Gago; it has the herculean task of blending the best wines from a multitude of different plots, vineyards and regions to create a consistent and outstanding range of wines. Its flagship wine, Grange, is firmly established as one of the finest red wines in the world.

Under Gago’s stewardship, the Penfolds range has evolved over time. Winemaking has moved away from New World heat and the sort of larger-than-life style that can mask individuality; the contemporary wines instead favour fine balance and typicity for the region or grape.

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Barossa Valley

Barossa Valley

Barossa Valley is the South Australia's wine industry's birthplace. Currently into its fifth generation, it dates back to 1839 when George Fife Angas’ South Australian Company purchased 28,000 acres at a £1 per acre and sold them onto landed gentry, mostly German Lutherans. The first vines were planted in 1843 in Bethany, and by the 1870s – with Europe ravaged by war and Phylloxera - Gladstone’s British government complemented its colonies with preferential duties.

Fortified wines, strong enough to survive the 20,000km journey, flooded the British market. Churchill followed, between the Wars, re-affirming Australia’s position as a leading supplier of ‘Empire wines’. After the Second World War, mass European immigration saw a move to lighter wines, as confirmed by Grange Hermitage’s creation during the 1950s. Stainless-steel vats and refrigeration improved the quality of the dry table wines on offer, with table wine consumption exceeding fortified for the first time in 1970.

Averaging 200 to 400 metres’ altitude, the region covers 6,500 hectares of mainly terra rossa loam over limestone, as well as some warmer, sandier sites – the Cambrian limestone being far more visible along the eastern boundary (the Barossa Ranges) with Eden Valley. Following a diagonal shape, Lyndoch at the southern end nearest Gulf St Vincent is the region’s coolest spot, benefiting from sea fogs, while Nuriootpa (further north) is warmer; hot northerlies can be offset by sea breezes. The region is also home to the country’s largest concentration of 100-year-old-vine ShirazGrenache and Mourvedre.

Barossa Valley Shiraz is one of the country’s most identifiable and famous red wine styles, produced to a high quality by the likes of Rockford, Elderton, Torbreck and Dean Hewitson. Grenache and Mourvèdre are two of the region’s hidden gems, often blended with Shiraz, yet occasionally released as single vineyard styles such as Hewitson’s ‘Old Garden’, whose vines date back to 1853. Cabernet Sauvignon is a less highly-regarded cultivar.

Wines are traditionally vinified in open concrete fermenters before being cleaned up and finished in American and French oak barrels or ‘puncheons’ of approximately 600 litres. Barossa Shiraz should be rich, spicy and suave, with hints of leather and pepper.

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Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.

It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.

South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

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