Reviews

James Halliday, 97 Points

Hand picked, open fermented and basket pressed, as dictated by the walled vineyard. Primary fermentation finished in barrel, then matured 15 months in French (30% new, 40% 1yo) and American (30% 1yo) hogsheads. Continues the move in recent years toward an unequivocal single-vineyard stamp for this wine. Black fruits (cherry and blackberry) in a bracket of oak, savoury tannins and, most importantly, fresh acidity and a toothsome 7g/L RS. Its lifespan? Indefinite, as it's finished with a cork, which makes cellaring important. 

Overview

The single-vineyard Magill Estate Shiraz is intrinsically linked to Penfolds beginnings. Sourced from the Magill vineyard on the edge of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs (just eight kilometres from the city’s CBD), fruit is crushed, fermented and matured on-site at the original winery, established in 1844. Magill Estate Shiraz, first produced in 1983, is an elegant, medium-weight style with velvety texture and fine tannins, matured in both French and American oak. It is a sleek, contemporary wine, yet crafted the original way: hand-picked, vinified in open fermenters and then basket pressed to complete fermentation in barrel.

Here is a wonderful purity to the palate... lineal, laser focussed. An assured wine, content for the fruit to do the talking, oak relegated to a cameo role. The ancient mottled red clay soils of Magill Estate deliver their signature fruit characters dried cranberries, succulent blackberry, mulberry conserve. A suggestion of sweetness: breakfast pastries, vanillas slice, cola. Herbs? Fresh sage, dried bay leaves, thyme flowers. Ligurian olives in Rosemary olive oil. A gravelly minerality on the finish, taught. The tannins are super fine and long. A wonderful expression of this unique vineyard.