Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Another skilled execution of edgy, modern Australian chardonnay from the cool climate of Tumbarumba, this has a heap of powerful fruit in the lime and nectarine spectrum, boosted by some lees-derived creamy and savoury notes, delivering biscuity complexity. Flavors are all nicely integrated, stony and smooth, beautifully balanced.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2014 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay—produced from the cool climate region of Tumbarumba in New South Wales, Australia—is a beautiful wine. Bright with fresh stone and core fruits, it delivers excellent and rewarding textures, and a finish that is crisp and long. The wine's bright acidity makes it a delectable choice with shellfish. (Tasted: October 31, 2016, San Francisco, CA USA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chardonnay Bin 311 has a lovely grapefruit and white peach nose with hints of brioche, cedar and almonds plus a touch of honeycomb. Tight, light to medium-bodied, clean and fresh in the mouth with great intensity, it has a long, mineral finish. Rating: 91+
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Wine & Spirits
Peter Gago’s team at Penfolds has used Bin 311 to explore a range of cool-climate chardonnay sites as part of their Yattarna program. Tumbarumba, in New South Wales, is a town on the western flank of the Snowy Mountains, its high-altitude vineyards supplying fruit for this vintage of Bin 311. Aged for eight months in older oak barrels, it’s a gentle chardonnay with the cool feel of spring water running over river stones. Light scents of chamomile and orange come up in the finish. For hamachi sashimi.
Since 1844, Penfolds has been grounded in experimentation, curiosity and uncompromising quality. Their success has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers. It began with Dr. Christopher and Mary Penfold, the pioneers who dreamed big, inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. It continued with celebrated winemaking legends including Max Schubert, who pushed the development to extraordinary, bold new heights. It is this pioneering spirit and curiosity that still rings true after nearly two centuries, it is what has helped Penfolds become one of the most celebrated winemakers in the world today.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The birthplace of Australian wine but also fast to embrace innovation, New South Wales is full of historic wine regions as well as some of the nation’s most contemporary producers. Along the entire western side of the Great Dividing Range, New South Wales includes the famous wine regions of Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, Hilltops, Canberra and Riverina.