The Penfolds Collection 2025 - A Time-Travelling Love Affair in 750ml Installments.
- T
- Jul 24
- 13 min read
In 2025, Penfolds isn’t merely making wine - it’s staging a full-blown temporal opera. One where the ghosts of vintages past tango with the promise of future palates, and every bottle moonlights as both memoir and manifesto. Think of the 2025 Collection collection as a black-tie dinner party attended by Galileo, Escoffier, and a particularly opinionated sommelier. If last year marked 180 years of vinous legacy, this year sees Penfolds moonwalk forward while keeping one foot (and one barrel) firmly in the past.
But there’s more than heritage at play here - there’s heat, light, and no small measure of existential questioning.
What does it mean to be a custodian of Australia’s vinous identity in a world unmoored from borders? With Transcend, Penfolds has effectively picked up the Federation oak and grafted it across time zones and terroirs, crafting wines that feel both anchored and airborne. Here is a brand boldly reframing national heritage not as static provenance, but as a globally fluent dialect - part Adelaide Hills, part Napa swagger, part Bordeaux whisper.
Luxury today is less about gated exclusivity and more about expansive connection - to story, to soil, to the self. Penfolds has leaned into this shift with a kind of theatrical humility. These are wines that dazzle not by flexing status, but by whispering meaning. Emotional resonance now rivals tannin structure. The packaging may glint, yes, but the soul of the wine lies in its intent - to provoke, to soothe, to speak.
And speak they do. There's something liturgical about these releases, each bottle a chalice in a contemporary communion. Whether it’s Quantum’s gravitational pull or the soft psalm of FWT 585, Penfolds is not simply selling wine - it’s curating multisensory theatre. The curtain rises with the pop of a cork, the narrative unfurls in the glass.
This global perspective isn’t mere branding - it’s encoded in the DNA. From the limestone threads of Coonawarra to the chalky spines of California’s Paso Robles, Penfolds manages to walk a fine line: honouring place while transcending it. This tension - between specificity and scale, mastery and imagination - mirrors the dilemmas of the modern global citizen. We want both roots and wings, after all.
Grange was once a gamble, a defiance of orthodoxy. Today, Quantum and the multi-origin blends from France and California feel like spiritual heirs to that early irreverence - perhaps misunderstood now, but certain to be sipped with reverence in decades to come. Daring has always been in the DNA.
And speaking of daring: space missions, couture collabs, and moon-aged vintages? Penfolds doesn’t flirt with cross-industry experimentation - it seduces it. These partnerships don’t just widen the brand’s aperture, they deepen its philosophy. They remind us that wine is not just agriculture, but alchemy. Not just product, but provocation.
Which brings us to language. Wine-speak has long been the Esperanto of the elite, opaque and off-putting. But this collection leans away from intimidation and toward invitation.
Penfolds 2025 Collection democratizes awe - whether you’re an MW or a mildly curious dinner guest, there’s a place for you at the table.
Ultimately, Penfolds sits at a curious intersection: Is it a house of mastery, or a house of imagination? The answer, of course, is yes. Both. Always. Precision and poetry are not opposites, but dance partners - and nowhere is that pas de deux more alive than in these wines.
Looking to the future, as climate, culture, and consumption patterns evolve, Penfolds is already speaking the language of tomorrow - from regenerative viticulture to AI-driven blending to immersive tasting experiences that resemble boutique theatre more than cellar door sips. Relevance, after all, is not inherited - it’s engineered.
And if Penfolds were to write its next manifesto?
Let the past inform, the present perform, and the future ferment.
We were lucky enough to be invited to the hallowed Penfolds Estate in Adelaide, where time seems to age as gracefully as their wines. Amidst the barrels and the whispers of vintages past, we had the rare pleasure of sampling every wine in the 2025 Collection - each one unfolding like a scene in a grand theatrical production. Even better, we got to pick the brain of the inimitable Peter Gago himself, whose insights added delicious layers to the story behind every pour.
Below, each wine in the 2025 Collection takes its well-deserved turn under the spotlight - think curtain call, not cattle call. Some shimmer with star power. Some brood in shadowy complexity. All are fluent in the art of time travel.
Grange 2021
SHIRAZ / SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The 2021 Grange doesn’t enter - it arrives, like a seasoned prima donna in full regalia. And yet, there’s no diva tantrum here, just a volcanic core of confidence. The nose unfurls with dark chocolate, liquorice root, and ripe blackberries so lush they could charge rent. Aged in 100% new American oak, the wine exhibits that signature Grange swagger - plush, powerful, and unapologetically Penfolds. This vintage is a flex: taut structure, inky depth, and a finish that lingers like the memory of an unforgettable aria.
Think: Midnight in a leather library. Thunderstorms. Velvet curtains. An operatic Shiraz with perfect pitch.
Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
CABERNET SAUVIGNON / SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Bin 707 doesn’t whisper; it pronounces. This is Cabernet with architectural integrity - think brutalist beauty, all clean lines and stone coolness. The 2022 vintage offers cassis, bay leaf, graphite, and a flicker of cigar box - an olfactory blueprint for a modern classic. Sourced from Penfolds’ elite Cabernet sites across Coonawarra, Barossa Valley, and Wrattonbully, it’s a masterclass in cross-regional structure.
It’s Cabernet with the brows of a philosopher and the jawline of a boxer.
RWT Bin 798 Barossa Valley Shiraz 2023
SHIRAZ / BAROSSA VALLEY
RWT remains the velvet glove to Grange’s iron fist. Matured in French oak (as opposed to Grange’s American), this 2022 vintage courts elegance rather than dominance. There’s blue fruit, violets, and a touch of roasting meats - like a dinner party hosted by a Michelin-starred butcher. With its silken tannins and undulating palate, RWT is Barossa refracted through a silk scarf: opulent, yes, but with finesse. It’s the grown-up twin who went to art school and smells faintly of oud and library dust.
St Henri Shiraz 2022
SHIRAZ / SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The wine-world’s great contrarian. St Henri doesn’t truck with new oak - it sidesteps it entirely, maturing in large old vats to allow the fruit to sing its solo. The 2021 vintage croons in deep burgundy baritones - plum pudding, cherry liqueur, cocoa, and a touch of cured meat. It’s savoury, structured, and contemplative - the jazz musician of the lineup, more Monk than Mozart. While Grange screams luxury, St Henri whispers legacy. And that whisper? Utterly compelling.
RESERVE BIN A Chardonnay 2024
Adelaide Hills, Australia
If Chardonnay were a performance art, Bin A 2024 would be its moody ballerina - gorgeously controlled, elegantly powerful, and just a little theatrical. This isn’t your nana’s butterball; it’s all tension and drama, structured like a Brâncuși sculpture with curves that mean business.
From the first whiff, it struts its Adelaide Hills pedigree with a flourish of white peach, lime blossom, and citrus rind, all softened by a wink of lemon meringue and a cheeky struck match - like someone whispering French in your ear while lighting a bonfire. The oak doesn’t dominate, it curates - think fresh-shaved wood and a dash of bay leaf just to keep things grown-up.
On the palate, it’s a masterclass in contrast. There’s creaminess, yes, but it’s haute couture panna cotta - not pudding. The mouthfeel is glossy but disciplined, like a Pilates instructor in silk. Expect notes of spiced quince, green peppercorn, macadamia paste, and a flick of saline, as if a sea breeze from Kangaroo Island just breezed by and whispered, “you’re welcome.”
It finishes like a five-star hotel lobby: polished, perfumed, and impossible to leave. Drink now for a thrill ride, or cellar until 2038 and let it evolve into that impossibly elegant older cousin who lives in Paris and makes wine disappear.
Magill Estate Shiraz 2023
SHIRAZ / ADELAIDE
A monopole of modernity meets tradition, the 2023 Magill Estate Shiraz is Penfolds’ ode to home. Harvested from the original 5.2-hectare vineyard in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, it’s a rare single-vineyard bottling from a producer known for blending. The result? Intimate, aromatic, and filigreed. Mulberry, graphite, pan-seared peppercorns. It’s a thinking person’s Shiraz - terroir in high definition. The tannins are lace-like, the oak well-integrated, and the whole affair feels like reading a handwritten letter in a digital world.
Yattarna Chardonnay 2022
CHARDONNAY / TASMANIA & ADELAIDE HILLS
Yattarna has always been Penfolds’ Great White Hope - a cerebral Chardonnay born of cool-climate obsession. The 2022 vintage draws from Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills, yielding a mineral-sleek, citrus-zested sculpture of a wine. There’s white peach, struck match, nougat, and a saline lick that recalls sea spray on limestone. Fermented and matured in French oak (44% new), it’s linear yet generous, like a ballerina with steel-core legs. You don’t just drink Yattarna - you encounter it.
Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2023
CABERNET SAUVIGNON SHIRAZ / SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Often called “Baby Grange,” but let’s not infantilise it. Bin 389 is a charismatic hybrid - the Cabernet brings the structure, the Shiraz brings the swagger. In 2022, it’s all blackcurrant, mocha, charcuterie and dried sage, with a firm handshake of tannin and a cheeky wink of fruit generosity. Aged in barrels previously used for Grange, there’s a whisper of legacy without the price tag. If Grange is a tailored tux, Bin 389 is a sharply cut blazer with cheeky lining.
Bin 138 Barossa Valley Shiraz Grenache Mataro 2023
SHIRAZ GRENACHE MATARO / BAROSSA VALLEY
A Rhône-style blend with Barossa bravado. Bin 138 is the charming rogue of the family - juicy, energetic, and just a bit unruly in the best way. The 2023 vintage sings with raspberry compote, rosehip tea, black olive, and sweet spice, anchored by Mataro’s earthy growl. Medium-bodied and mouth-filling, it’s the kind of wine that could dance on a rooftop or philosophise at a fireside - your call.
FWT 585 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot 2022
BORDEAUX BLEND / FRANCE
Yes, you read that right. A Penfolds wine made in Bordeaux, from Bordeaux grapes, by Penfolds winemakers. The fourth release of their French Wine Trial (FWT), this 2022 vintage explores the Grand Vin idiom with a Southern Hemisphere accent. Blackberry, graphite, violets, and cedar fold into a poised, polished, and quietly experimental blend. It’s both homage and heresy - a diplomatic passport stamped on both sides of the globe.
Bin 311 Chardonnay 2023
CHARDONNAY / TUMBARUMBA, ADELAIDE HILLS, TASMANIA
Bin 311 is the slightly more easy-going sibling to Yattarna - no less intelligent, just less concerned with making an entrance. Cool-climate fruit from three regions produces a Chardonnay that’s flinty, citrusy, and subtly nutty. There’s lemon curd, white flowers, and a whisper of struck match. It’s the kind of wine that makes you want to abandon tasting notes and just pour another glass.
Bin 23 Pinot Noir 2023
PINOT NOIR / TASMANIA
Bin 23 is Penfolds’ answer to the Pinot faithful - a wine that embraces the fragility and finesse of the variety, yet adds a subtle Penfolds brawn. The 2023 vintage hails predominantly from Tasmania, resulting in lifted aromatics: rhubarb, sour cherry, beetroot, and a lick of char. It’s juicy, sinewy, and a little wild - a ballet dancer who grew up in a punk band.
Bin 21 Grenache 2024
Barossa Valley & McLaren Vale, Australia
Bin 21 is a bit like your indie friend who suddenly showed up at a black-tie gala in vintage Saint Laurent - edgy, charming, and somehow outclassing everyone in the room. It’s not trying to be fashionable; it just is.
From the outset, its perfume is intoxicating: violet, rose petals, and pomegranate spun together like some perfumed tapestry stitched in a sun-drenched artist's studio. Sweet-and-sour forest fruits play off crème brûlée, tapioca pearls, and cinnamon - part spice bazaar, part dessert trolley. Somewhere in the background, a wisp of cedar and old cigar box lingers like your cool uncle’s study.
The palate? A mineral-led manifesto. This is Grenache with gravitas. There’s fruit, of course - wild strawberries, blueberry tart, rhubarb - but they pirouette over a backbone of crunchy acidity and papery, filigree tannins. You could almost mistake it for Pinot if it weren’t so delightfully sun-kissed and mischievous. The mouthfeel is silky-chewy, the kind of thing that begs for a second sip... and a debate about terroir over charcuterie.
In short, it’s Grenache for grown-ups - delicate yet dangerous, flamboyant yet cerebral. Like a flamenco dancer with a master’s degree.
Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2023
SHIRAZ / COONAWARRA
Cool-climate Shiraz done with laser precision. Bin 128 is shaped by Coonawarra’s terra rossa soils and delivers a tightly coiled, spice-drenched rendition of the varietal. Clove, redcurrant, pepper, and a whisper of dried rose petals. Matured in French oak, the 2023 vintage is linear, savoury, and made for the long haul. It’s the academic of the lineup - lean, incisive, and a little aloof (but warms up after the second glass).
Bin 28 Shiraz 2023
SHIRAZ / MULTI-REGIONAL, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Where Bin 128 is cool and cerebral, Bin 28 is warm and gregarious. It’s the original Penfolds Shiraz, first released in 1959, and it still captures the brand’s muscular red-fruit signature. The 2023 vintage is ripe, plush, and open-armed: blackberry, mocha, anise, and a lick of vanilla from seasoned American oak. It’s less black-tie, more fireside; more steakhouse than salon.
Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
MULTI-REGIONAL, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The Bin 407 is like an impeccably tailored blazer - structured, classic, and oozing quiet confidence. It’s Penfolds' nod to varietal clarity, and 2023 delivers it in spades. Think textbook cassis and black cherry notes stitched together with cedar, graphite, and a sotto voce of eucalypt - as if the Coonawarra and Wrattonbully fruit were exchanging love letters in French oak. The tannins? Firm but mannered - the kind that don’t crash the party, but gently usher everyone toward a velvet-curtained den where serious conversations and flirtatious glances go hand-in-hand.
Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2023
Barossa Valley, Australia
This is Barossa with a baritone - deep, resonant, and wearing a black velvet smoking jacket. Bin 150 doesn’t shout; it simmers. Fruit from the Marananga sub-region offers a warm, fleshy profile - like licking blackberry jam off antique silver. There’s spice here, sure - a whiff of clove, a crack of pepper - but it’s never ornamental. This is brooding, bass-note Shiraz that’s more Nick Cave than AC/DC. Penfolds fans will appreciate its swaggering density, but there’s a poetic side too - think muscular verse with a lavender-scented postscript.
BIN 21 BAROSSA VALLEY SHIRAZ 2023 - Australia
Brand new and already making itself at home on the dancefloor, Bin 21 is Barossa turned up to eleven - but with manners. It’s like Penfolds wanted a wine that could drop the bass and still make it to the afterparty in bespoke tailoring. Opulent, generous, but not gauche, this one is all sun-ripened berries and mocha-swirl depth with a comforting lick of American oak. It doesn’t reinvent the Shiraz wheel - it burnishes it. A banger with a PhD. Pairs equally well with grilled lamb and existential pondering.
QUANTUM Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
South Australia / Napa Valley
This is no ordinary Cabernet - it’s intercontinental espionage in a glass. Quantum continues to blur borders and flirt with postmodernism: fruit from Napa and South Australia conspire to produce something gloriously unplaceable. Plush and aristocratic, it leads with Napa richness - ripe blackcurrant, violet, and cocoa - then cuts to Penfolds precision: firm tannins, savoury undertones, and that signature lift. The 2021 vintage whispers sweet nothings in both hemispheres and somehow makes them rhyme. Is it a Cabernet? Is it a cosmopolitan concept? Yes, and yes.
Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
South Australia / USA
If Quantum is the philosophical elder sibling, Bin 149 is the charismatic middle child - smart, worldly, and just cheeky enough to get away with it. With 85% South Australian fruit and the rest from Napa, it’s a Cabernet that plays with dialects. It opens with rich blackcurrant and menthol, before pivoting to dried herbs and fine pencil shavings - like a Napa debutante quoting Coonawarra poetry. The structure is classic, but the flair is all new-world rebellion. This one wears cufflinks and high-tops. Don’t ask how - it just works.
Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
Napa Valley, USA
A wink to the inverse of Bin 407, Bin 704 is Penfolds doing Napa - but filtered through its Adelaide laboratory lens. It’s undeniably Californian in fruit - plush, ripe, bold - yet somehow sings in an Aussie accent. Think Napa Valley sunshine meeting Penfolds’ strict regimen: no flab, just structure. Black cherry, olive tapenade, cigar box - and tannins that are less velvet glove, more tailored glove slap. It’s like Jay Gatsby went on a gap year to the Barossa and came back with better taste.
Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz 2022
California, USA
Call this one the romantic child of two hemispheres - California Cabernet meets Syrah with an Aussie soul. Bin 600 showcases Penfolds' boldest Californian dream - the blending of varieties and philosophies. There’s ripeness - like plums basking in a Malibu sunset - but also grip and savour, like Penfolds always insists. The Shiraz adds spice, the Cabernet brings formality, and the result is one seriously dialled-in dinner guest. Big energy, sharp tailoring. A Hollywood red carpet moment with Australian emotional complexity.
FWT 543 Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah 2022
France
The FWT stands for "French Wine Trial", but don’t be fooled - this isn’t homework. It’s the fourth iteration of Penfolds' French experiment, and it’s starting to feel like they’ve cracked the code. Fruit from Bordeaux communes brings noble acidity, firm tannins, and a whisper of pencil case chic. Yet there’s something unmistakably Antipodean in its swagger - a structural confidence, a refusal to be too polite. Like an expat winemaker in Bordeaux who still orders flat whites and quotes cricket stats. A cross-cultural triumph that doesn’t ask for permission.
CWT 521 Cabernet Sauvignon Marselan 2023
China (Shangri-La & Ningxia)
CWT 521 might just be the most Penfolds thing not yet labelled a Bin - a cross-cultural experiment that feels less like a trial and more like a prelude to greatness. It’s part intrigue, part terroir-tinted fever dream.
On the nose, it opens with a culinary wanderlust - roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant, and freshly crushed Italian herbs - a sensory layover somewhere between Tuscany and Lijiang. But wait: there’s wild nettle tea, dried tobacco, and frankincense too, as if Marco Polo took up perfumery. A cherrywood note anchors the swirl, hinting at confident oak handling and a deft winemaking touch.
The palate is where the real drama unfolds. Cabernet brings familiarity - blackcurrant, structure, a wink of cigar leaf. But it’s the Marselan that throws in the wildcard - plush mid-palate texture, lavender warmth, and a dusky sweetness not unlike sticky date pudding dusted with pink peppercorn and cumin. There’s grilled lamb and rosemary in the mix too, making it feel more like a Sunday lunch in a high-altitude vineyard than just a glass of red.
Tannins are fine, acidity pitch-perfect, and the whole affair has an almost orchestral balance - East meets West, fruit meets savour, and Penfolds meets the future. This is no novelty act. It’s serious. Seriously delicious.
If Bin status is the Hogwarts letter of Penfolds, then CWT 521 has one foot through the platform already.
---
Words by AW.
Photos courtesy of Penfolds.
