Bin 311 Chardonnay 2018

The last view vintages of Bin 311 have concentrated on Chardonnay from Tumbarumba. But Penfolds like to go where the fruit is best that year. So, in 2018 the wine became a multi-regional blend, also using fruit from Adelaide Hills and Tasmania – where they get their grapes for the flagship white Yattarna. Sherbet, chamomile, cream, sea salt, pepper, melon, peach and lemon meringue pie; it’s rich but also racy and immensely drinkable. Perfect for opening on summer days or for drinking while you wait for your Yattarna to mature in the cellar.

Penfolds is certainly Australia’s, and possibly one of the world’s, most iconic wine producers. Established in 1844, it boasts an enviable history that most wineries in the Old World would give their right arm for. Most famous for its flagship wine, Penfolds Grange, which is the very definition of Australian fine wine and the 1955 vintage was even described by Wine Spectator as one of the “Wines of the Century”. Penfolds owe much of their success to Max Schubert, their winemaker who travelled to Europe after World War II and came back with all kinds of secrets. His innovative, often multi-regional, blends have become part of the DNA of Penfolds, and now the wines are the choice of connoisseurs and collectors all over the world.