Penfolds Bin 138 Shiraz Grenache Mataro [750ML]

Penfolds brand is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia with his wife, Mary Penfold. It is one of the oldest wineries in Australia and is currently part of Treasure Wine Estates, an Australian global winemaking and distribution business headquarters in Melbourne. The couples started planting their vine cuttings that they had brought with them from the United Kingdom at a 500 acre Magill Estate at the foot of Mount Lofty Ranges.

Christopher died in 1870 and his wife Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. She retired in 1884 and by that time, Penfolds was producing a third of all South Australia’s wine. Her daughter Georgina took management control after Mary retired and she died in 1896. By 1907, Penfolds brand became South Australia’s largest winery.

History was made again in 1948 when Max Schubert became Penfolds first Chief Winemaker. Schubert propelled Penfolds into the global market with his experimentation on long-lasting wines which lead to the creation of Penfolds Grange in the 1950s. The tradition of bin wines began in 1959 while Schubert was still perfecting his Grange experimentation in secret. The first release was a Shiraz grape wine from the Company’s own Barossa Valley vineyards and simply was named after the storage area of the cellar where it was aged. Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 became the first official Penfolds Bin number wines.

By the 1960s, Penfolds board of management instructed Max Schubert to officially re-start production on Grange wines because of his determination and quality of the aged wines. Grange wines quickly became one of the most revered wines around the world and in 1988, Schubert was named Decanter Magazine’s Man of the Year. Peter Gago is Penfolds current Chief winemaker.

Penfolds Bin 138 Shiraz Grenache Mataro draws inspiration from the wines of Southern Rhones, where shiraz, grenache and mataro grapes blended together in varying proportions to create full-bodied wines. Each year, Bin 138 is sourced from Barossa Valley vines and matured for 12 to 15 months in seasoned oak hogsheads and bottled at 14.5% ABV. The exact recipe and grape varietal is not disclosed.