CHAMPAGNE BRINGS A SPARKLE TO THE FAMED AUSTRALIAN PRODUCER’S GROWING PORTFOLIO
by Tony Love
Renowned Australian producer Penfolds has taken its next major step toward becoming a major player in the global market. Seeking a broader platform for its famous name—built mostly on its Penfolds Grange Shiraz—the South Australian company, under the umbrella of Treasury Wine Estates, has joined forces with highly regarded Champagne house Thiénot to release a trio of 2012 vintage Champagnes, the first of which hit the market in June.
The move follows last year’s release of Penfolds Lot. 518 Spirited Wine with Baijiu, a Shiraz fortified with the namesake spirit and marketed intensely throughout China and in Chinese communities worldwide. It will be followed in turn by new products from California as well as France; Penfolds Winemakers Steph Dutton and Andrew Baldwin have been partly based in Napa Valley for the past few years, laying the foundations for work that began in earnest with the 2018 harvest.
Company executives have yet to reveal details concerning the new wines’ vineyard sources or varietal makeup, though they estimate a 2022 release date.
Meanwhile, the May launch of the Thiénot x Penfolds label to a select audience in Paris doubled as a celebration of Penfolds’ 175th anniversary, Chief Winemaker Peter Gago said, adding, “This is the start of our second era.” One of the challenges of the collaboration was giving the Champagne an authentic Australian touch, as the wines were already en tirage in Thiénot’s cellars. “We didn’t want to mess with them . . . but we wanted a little bit of Australia in each of these bottles,” Gago noted, adding that they came up with a plan to use Penfolds’ top-of-the-range Yattarna Chardonnay for the liqueur d’expédition in the Blanc de Blancs and unoaked St. Henri Shiraz in the Blanc de Noirs, both to be released in 2020. But that was frowned upon by Champagne’s official trade association, the CIVC, so instead Penfolds sent several ex-Yattarna barriques to France to house the French liqueur d’expédition. “It was a definitive link,” Gago said.
The already available 2012 Thiénot x Penfolds Lot. 1-175 Chardonnay Pinot Noir Cuvée ($280) is a 50-50 blend of the named varieties, sourced from vineyards across the region. It underwent 100% malolactic fermentation and has a final dosage of 4 g/L. Gago wrote his official tasting notes with siblings Garance and Stanislas Thiénot, describing the wine as “complex yet pure . . . even and assured across the palate, at once alluring, rich, opulent, [and] majestic . . . refreshingly expressive.”
