On February 4 James tasted with Penfolds’ veteran winemaker Peter Gago over Zoom and it was a memorable tasting, to say the least. They tasted the Penfolds Quantum Bin 98 and Bin 149, which are global blends of wines from Australia and California, and the Bin 704 and Bin 600, which are pure California wines.

James had flashbacks to his winemaking days when he created One Wine One World in the cellar of Mexican winemaker Hugo d’Acosta near Ensenada in Baja California. It was a whimsical idea of blending wines from three countries to emphasize the wines’ points in common instead of their differences, and to explore if the wines show harmony and quality. He made about 700 cases of both a red and white. It was for charity and was even served to Pope Benedict XVI and a group of Bishops during a lunch in Birmingham, England. Check out this video from Decanter back in 2010.

As for the Penfolds global blends, Gago explained that the reds were produced mostly by chance when they were blending their California wines in the offices of Beringer in Napa with his American team at the Treasury Wine Estates. It happened during a calibration session with winemakers and he happened to blend some 149 Napa cabernet with some A-grade South Australian cabernet and they ended up pretty close to the current blend in the bottle.

“Jaws dropped,” Gago said. “'How did that happen?', everyone said. It was the essence of blending. It wasn’t intentional … we had no intention of making a wine of the world. We tripped over that."

James liked the Quantum Bin 98 more than the Bin 149, which makes sense considering the large price difference – respectively $700 and $149 a bottle. Only a few thousand bottles will be available of the former. Both wines show intensity and complexity in a lush and balanced way.

The California wines are more typical but with a polish and focus that Penfolds always delivers in its top Australian wines. Some of the Penfolds tweaks in winemaking that Gago revealed included short fermentations on the skins in barrels, some American oak barrels from Australian coopers, and extensive quality assessment and classification tastings with the American team. “It was the pursuit of a certain quality level and house style too,” Gago said.

The Penfolds Bin 600 and Bin 704 are well priced for outstanding quality California wines at $50 and $70 a bottle, respectively. The Napa blend is a combination of mountain fruit with some valley floor sources. “This says we love the fruit [of California]. We love the microclimates. We love the vineyards and we want to dabble with that. And we have,” Gago added.

Watch the video to hear the highlights of the conversation and see what they thought of the wines.

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