THE BIN PROJECT: THE PENFOLDS RED WINES ECOSYSTEM
With Grange at the pinnacle, Schubert further envisioned a collection of wines which not only ‘married together’ but bore their own unmistakable style despite the variation of vintage. This ushered in the Penfolds House Style and a suite of wine, red and white, synonymous with quality: the Penfolds Bin wines.
Referring to the cellar storage area where the wine had aged, bin numbers had been used by Penfolds since the 1940s to label wines for entry into wine shows. As the market came to associate a consistent quality with these bin numbers, their use became a convention. The first commercial release was Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz, a Barossa Valley red wine first produced in 1959.
Schubert’s vision is embodied in the development and style of many early Bin wines. First made in 1964, Bin 707 is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine made with a similar winemaking process to Grange. Bin 389, created in 1960, is a quintessential Australian Cabernet Shiraz blend, featuring declassified Grange and sometimes Bin 707 parcels in its makeup.
Today, the Penfolds House Style is as much about quality as it is consistency. With grapes graded by viticulturists prior to fermentation, a strict classification process with the Penfolds winemaking team continues throughout fermentation with tastings to grade the wine towards a required style.
This intricate, detailed work upholds Penfolds reputation for excellence, but ultimately pays its dividends in the glass.
CRAFTING INNOVATION FOR THE FUTURE
Behind each new Bin wine are countless wine trials which stretch back many years to find genesis simply in a new idea. Just as it threaded through the winemaking of his day, Schubert’s innovative spirit continues to fire within the Penfolds winemaking team today.
Penfolds Senior Winemaker Steph Dutton has crafted Penfolds red wines since 2010. In referencing the spirit of imagination which marks Penfolds work, Steph says:
