2019 Penfolds 'RWT Bin 798' Shiraz Barossa
RWT is made from fruit primarily selected for its aromatic qualities and plush texture. The result is a wine that helps to redefine Barossa shiraz at the highest quality level. RWT wines area built for the long haul, with the precision, concentration and balance to age for many years.
Penfolds has a very long and meandering history, and represents generations of winemaking knowledge in action. In 1844, Dr. Christopher and Mary Penfold planted vineyards at Magill Estate near Adelaide. The first Penfolds wines, from the 1800s, were made from newly established vineyards around Adelaide and made for the enjoyment of new South Australian colonists. During the first part of the 20th century, Penfolds gradually added significant acreage and became a household name across Australia. It exported table and fortified wines throughout the Commonwealth. After a visit to France in 1950, Penfolds chief winemaker Max Schubert dreamed bigger, wanting to dramatically expand the winery’s export presence, as the French had. The iconic Penfolds Grange came forth in 1951, leading to a remarkable parade of wines that would bring Penfolds wines worldwide acclaim for their richness, consistency, and longevity.
Wine Advocate
Longtime readers will know of my personal fondness for this wine, going back nearly to its first vintage, the 1997. That said, the 2019 RWT Shiraz Bin 798 continues this wine's impressive run, artfully combining hedonistic waves of mixed fruit with the balancing and structural effects of 18 months in French oak hogsheads (57% new, with the balance second-fill). Dark chocolate and vanilla notes join blackberries and plums on the concentrated, full-bodied palate, picking up hints of coffee, black olives and licorice on the long, silky-textured finish. This should easily age up to two decades.
James Suckling
A strident RWT with a regional signature of tar and coal smoke to the ripe plums and blackberries. Such intense, ripe dark-plum and blackberry drive on powerful, deep-set tannins that run long through the finish. Contained power.