Penfolds Limited Edition Travel Pack

BIN 138

Apperance: Bright garnet red

Aroma: Raspberry-leaf and pastille fruits (blackberry) jostle to the fore. Barossa boot polish high-notes arise – ever so discretely! Scents of delightfully appealing, almost pungent salty prosciutto/cassoulet/beef ragu/osso buco … stock(s)? A quince jelly and inky-berried aromatic sign-off at this early stage of bottle maturation. More to be revealed over time

Palate: Juicy, dense and more-ish – a sophisticated varietal and regional matrix unfolds, stamped with Barossa integrity. But, what from what? Best guess: ironstone – from shiraz and a continuum of fresh red and dark berried fruits from its grenache and mataro stablemates. Super-fine tannins permeate across the palate, no doubt contributed by all three varieties. Background oak ever so distant. Lingers.

BIN 150

Apperance: Deep, dark red

Aroma: An instant formic lift, elevating a mix of African/Middle Eastern spices – cumin and dried fennel flirting with aromas
akin to soaked dill-pickle juice. Less Marananga blueberry and juniper notes detected than normal, yet so many other shiraz variants leap forward to entice … Intermittent wafts of just-cooked pound cake and a cumquat/apricot-preserve strudel – i.e. innocent fruits in tandem with other ‘niceties’! Oak? A forensic audit may uncover some carefully hidden nutty and ginger notes derived from this source.

Palate: A boysenberry/mulberry slurry, almost a coulis, with a smidgeon of cola/creamy soda flavours. Prominent tannins augment and propel an impression of a svelte film of raspberry seeds/pips, to heighten textural appeal. Supportive oak adds weight – contributing structurally yet hesitating to add to the flavour-pool. An ironstone/ferrous (haemoglobin) impression noted on back-palate.