Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling Eden Valley 2024

Description

After the success of early sherries and fortified wines, founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold planted their vine cuttings they had carried on their voyage over to Australia. In 1844 the fledging vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at Magill Estate.As the company grew, so too did Dr Penfold’s medical reputation, leaving much of the running of the winery to Mary Penfold. Early forays into Clarets and Rieslings proved increasingly popular, and on Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. Mary’s reign at the helm of Penfolds saw years of determination and endeavour. In 1959 (while Schubert was perfecting his Grange experiment in secret), the tradition of ‘bin wines’ began. The first, a Shiraz wine with the grapes of the company’s own Barossa Valley vineyards was simply named after the storage area of the cellars where it is aged. And so Kalimna Bin 28 becomes the first official Penfolds Bin number wine.

Created in the 1990s as part of the evolving Penfolds white wine development program, Bin 51 captures many attributes of the Eden Valley locale. The region’s high altitude and cool climate induces Riesling with great finesse and elegance and a capacity for long-term cellaring. South Australia has gained worldwide recognition for producing definitive world-class Riesling and Eden Valley always features.

The 2024 Bin 51 Riesling is highly aromatic, with notes of talc and chalk, musk, lilac and white spring flowers (Murraya, orange blossom, lavender). Newly bottled Riesling effortlessly exudes this aromatic capacity, and it almost never has this vivacity and clarity again. Although we all know they gain complexity and breadth as they age. So here, the white rocks, crushed quartz and floral character of the Eden Valley is on full show, and yet the palate has an attractive sudsy softness to it that I find attractive. This is a lovely wine with an impressive flavor draw over the palate that lingers. It has 11% alcohol, a pH of 2.95 and 7.5 grams per liter of total acidity, sealed under screw cap. Anticipated maturity: 2024-2040. [Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate 18/07/2024]