Sunday 6 May 2012

Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2010

The Bin A Chardonnay started its life in 1994 and was named after the Adelaide Hills region. This wine is hands on as it is basket pressed straight into French barriques and then allowed to start ferment naturally.  The wine sleeps in barrel until it is deemed ready for its journey into bottle.  The wine is not filtered which makes me think that it could taste a little wild.  Once I tasted this I thought it was ultra structured with a little wildness thrown in.  I guess it would be like meeting Barack Obama and he hadn't shaved for a week.

Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2010

My god this wine takes you to a  place of enlightenment. For me this is more reminiscent of a religious experience than a simple flow of grapes from the glass to my mouth.  The wine is definitely crafted but it seems the fruit is doing most of the work.  The flavours started out with grapefruit and smoked river pebbles before it moves into nectarine and lemon custard.  My notes say every shade of citrus with a bit of spice but it is the mouthfeel and length that really gets me excited.  The wine feels like liquid putty as it slowly transverses down my tongue. Each bead of flavour attaches itself to a taste bud rubbing gloriously and constantly, never letting go. There is also a dryness to this wine that lingers and leaves me wanting to go back for more. I have always thought that Peter Gago was one of the best winemakers in Australia but I am knocking him off the top spot and replacing him with Kym Schroeter. This guy is a genius.  Everyone that is interested in top quality Chardonnay needs to go out and buy a bottle of this wine.  If this was from Burgundy I would have said that it would have been around the $400 a bottle mark but it comes from Australia so $95 is cheap.

Alcohol: 13%
Price: $95
Rated: 95+
Drink: 2013 - 2025



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