2018 Penfolds, Superblend 802.A, Australia
Critics reviews
Drink 2027 - 2042
Josh Raynolds, vinous.com (Jul 2021)
Not made in 2019 and 2020. Made to celebrate Cabernet/Shiraz blends. Makes use of the A1-grade fruit that isn't suitable for Grange, similarly to Quantum – so that top-end grower fruit has more options. Cabernet and Shiraz matured separately for 18 months, then blended. Matured 22 months in American oak.
Black fruit, lots of floral perfume – really quite different to the 389 style, and perhaps less typically Penfolds. Still delicious with black cherry, rounded tannins, a touch of tarmac – this is almost Piedmont in aromatic profile. A little less integrated than the 802-B.
Drink 2022 - 2042
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com (Sep 2021)
Drink 2025 - 2040
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (Jul 2021)
MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator (Nov 2021)
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Aug 2021)
Drink 2025 - 2055
David Sly, Decanter.com (Jun 2021)
About this WINE
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.
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 Shiraz, Grenache 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.
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
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Description
This wine is limited to one case per customer.
Penfolds’ latest Superblend is the product of the dazzling 2018 vintage, made from parcels that were destined for their flagship wines.
The new so-called Superblend is another masterclass in blending from Penfolds. The nose is almost perfumed, with layers of fruit, star anise, liquorice and even a faintly caramelised note – crème brûlée even. The 100% new American oak is overt here, with plenty of vanilla and sweet spice on the palate, which is balanced by notes of caramelised nuts, smoked meat, a rippling acidity and silky, ripe tannins.
Drink 2022 – 2040
Henrietta Gullifer, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (Nov 2021)
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