Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 1998

Penfolds is a phenomenon in Australian wine. It is arguably this country's only international luxury wine brand. Owned by Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), it has been the beneficiary of a strategy devised by former TWE chief executive Michael Clarke to focus virtually 100% of his entire folio's marketing activities upon this single brand. Inevitably this has led - despite the China wine tariff situation - to Penfolds becoming by far the most important driver of profit into TWE. Today Penfolds boasts its own division within the company and there remains much discussion as to whether or not this has been implemented to facilitate a sale of the Penfolds business from TWE. Recent mass departures of sales and marketing personnel from TWE might suggest some merit in this view. I'm not yet decided either way, although a TWE without Penfolds would be in a challenging place indeed. As a brand, the growth of SKUs under the Penfolds banner has continued at a remarkable pace. Not only has the core Penfolds range been added to on a regular basis, but there are today new ranges (ie Max's and the Cellar Collection) and collaborations in different countries (the US, France and China) to steadfastly prove the point that no matter where the grapes might be grown, the Penfolds winemaking recipe will deliver an identifiably Penfolds-styled wine. To date at least, this remains an unproven ambition. The extraordinary emphasis placed on the China market by previous TWE management is a direct cause of the dramatic increases in the price of Penfolds wines over the last 5-7 years plus the range extensions previously mentioned, which actually include an unholy alliance between an Australian fortified red and traditional Chinese spirit. Furthermore, the counter-intuitive blending of different vintages of its flagship table wines, Grange and Yattarna shows a company that for a time at least entirely lost its compass. Penfolds brings with it a number of internal statutes which on the surface can be hard to understand. It will release a vintage of Grange, which it promotes as Australia's leading red wine (despite the fact that different vintages of Grange get blended together to create the significantly more expensive 'g' series) every year, including the very poor years. And yes indeed, there are very poor vintages of Grange, 2000 being a fine example. However, it will only release Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon from fine vintages (it missed 2011, a poor vintage indeed but still released Grange from this year). Is it telling buyers to trust 707 more than Grange? Good news for buyers of Penfolds is that the 2021 vintage looks like a significant return to form on the quality front, which was only to be anticipated given the greatness of this season. The wines still occupy prices that perhaps flatters their true quality, but this is not the fault of the wines. While I'm saddened by the dilution of the Penfolds brand by the overseas attempts to extend it (wine is NOT Coca-Cola), I see genuine quality in these wines and a genuine effort to create wines that resemble, if indeed don't exactly follow, the styles that made their labels famous. This is a step forwards for Penfolds and might serve to remind its marketing team that there is indeed value in the wine history of the brand, about which Peter Gago and ilk delight in constantly reminding us.