Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2012

Penfolds RWT Shiraz presents an admirable alternative to the multi-regional sourcing and American oak maturation that are hallmarks of Grange, expressing instead, single-region Barossa Valley Shiraz matured only in French oak. The initials RWT stand for ‘Red Winemaking Trial’, the name given to the project internally when developmental work began in 1995. Naturally, now no longer a ‘Trial’ RWT Shiraz was launched inMay 2000 with the 1997 vintage. Its style is opulent and fleshy, contrasting with Grange, which is more muscular and assertive. RWT is made from fruit primarily selected for its aromatic qualities and fine texture rather than sheer intensity or power of flavour. The result is a wine that helps to redefine Barossa Shiraz at the highest quality level.

A vintage of slightly cooler temperatures with only one significant heat event over the New Year period. Prior to budburst, winter rainfall was lower than the long-term average for most parts of the Barossa Valley. Variable conditions continued through the period from October to December, merging to a mild summer, with a few short periods of heat. The mild daytime temperatures and cool evenings across most of the ripening period allowed for impressive flavour development, without inflated baumés. The 2012 vintage features fruit sourced from northern areas of the Barossa where the higher clay content in these soils retains and slowly releases moisture to the vines. This, combined with lower maximum temperatures than experienced in the western Barossa, allowed for a later harvest and a darker, richer fruit profile.

"May explain why Kalimna Bin 28 is the least of the Bin series reds, for this wine takes the finest shiraz from the Barossa Valley once Grange has had its choice. The call is made early, because this wine spends 16 months in French oak hogsheads (75% new), finishing its ferment in that oak, separating it at birth from Grange in American oak. The bouquet abounds with black fruits, with sub-notes of dark chocolate, licorice and some charcuterie. The palate is drop-dead gorgeous, a curious description given its strongly savoury flavour range, but it achieves the unlikely. As with all these wines, the tannin structure is exceptional, the length prodigious. James Halliday 98 Points"