Penfolds Reserve Bin 18A Chardonnay 2018
Reserve Bin A Chardonnay has evolved into a wine that is now a distinctive, single-region style in its own right, with a contemporary and expressive Adelaide Hills chardonnay persona. Fruit is hand-picked into small bins and then whole-bunch pressed. A portion of the juice is incrementally filled to barrel directly from the press and allowed to undergo a natural fermentation, sans inoculation.
Every new and seasoned French oak barrique is its own unique 225-litre ferment. Enhanced mouthfeel and complexity is achieved by fermenting and maturing on solids with regular yeast lees stirring. 100% malolactic fermentation (all natural).
$125.00 each
Additional details
Catalog:
Region:
Cellaring:
Enjoy now or to 2035.
Nose:
Not the archetypical stone-fruited Bin A this vintage – to the fore:
lemon curd, mandarin and nashi pear with a skerrick of shortbread and creamy custard/vanilla slice sans icing.
Also noteworthy – a touch of spice (cardamom and caraway) and a subtle suggestion of ground almond. This tasting’s final impression signing off on a quartz-like minerality, and wet river-stone flintiness. Very much looking forward to evolution in the bottle...
Palate:
Initially, an intriguing subtle (fluffy/pillowy) gentleness!
Flavours of mandarin and yoghurt with a rich mid-palate.
A glycerolic viscosity interlocks with the natural acidity inducing a mouth-watering juiciness and just a rasp of flint at the very end, adding length and zest.
So youthful. All evident on the palate would indicate that this wine needs time!
Short-term – catalyse/accelerate via a decant. Or wait. Adelaide Hills attired alternatively.
Varietal Composition:
Chardonnay