Penfolds

Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold and his wife Mary arrived in South Australia on the ship Taglioni on 18 June 1844, having emigrated from Angmering, West Sussex. Christopher, a physician who believed in the medicinal benefits of wine, had purchased 500 acres (200 hectares) at Magill, at the foot of the Mount Lofty Ranges east of Adelaide. The couple planted French vine cuttings brought from England around their cottage, which they named 'The Grange,' initially producing fortified wines in the style of sherry and port for Christopher's medical patients. As demand grew, they expanded into table wines including clarets and rieslings. Mary increasingly managed the winery operations and became one of Australia's first female winemakers of note. After Christopher died in 1870 at age 59, Mary ran the estate until her own death. The Penfold family retained a controlling interest until 1976, when the company was acquired by Tooth and Co., a New South Wales brewer. The brand passed through Adelaide Steamship Company and Southcorp before Foster's Group acquired Southcorp in 2005. In May 2011, Foster's demerged its wine operations to form Treasury Wine Estates, which now owns Penfolds.

• Christopher Penfold's original goal was creating wine tonics to treat anaemia, a common practice among Victorian-era physicians.
• Mary Penfold managed the estate for over 15 years after her husband's death, overseeing significant expansion of production.
• The Penfolds logo, first used in 1923, remains one of Australia's most recognized trademarks.

Max Schubert (9 February 1915 to 6 March 1994) joined Penfolds in 1931 as a messenger boy and rose to become the company's first Chief Winemaker in 1948 at age 33. In late 1950, Schubert was sent to Europe to study sherry and port production in Spain and Portugal. A side trip to Bordeaux proved transformative: he became determined to create an Australian red wine 'capable of staying alive for a minimum of twenty years.' Back in Adelaide for the 1951 vintage, Schubert chose Shiraz as his raw material and, combining traditional Australian techniques with Bordeaux inspiration and the groundbreaking pH research of Penfolds scientist Ray Beckwith, crafted his first experimental Grange. When shown to Penfolds management and invited wine identities in Sydney, the wine was universally disliked and Schubert was ordered to stop production. Undeterred, he continued making Grange in secret, hiding the 1957, 1958, and 1959 vintages in the depths of the cellars. As earlier vintages matured and their quality became apparent, the board reversed course and officially reinstated Grange production for the 1960 vintage.

• Schubert also created the Bin series, beginning with Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz in 1959 and Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz in 1960.
• He was named Decanter Magazine's Man of the Year in 1988, one of the highest individual honors in the wine world.
• Schubert held the Chief Winemaker position from 1948 to 1975, succeeded by Don Ditter.

Penfolds Grange is made predominantly from Shiraz, typically with a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. Unlike most prestigious Old World wines sourced from single vineyards, Grange is a multi-district blend drawing fruit from as many as 20 vineyard sites across South Australia, with Kalimna Vineyard in the Barossa Valley providing the core component. This philosophy means winemaker skill and blending artistry define Grange's identity rather than any single terroir. The wine undergoes partial barrel fermentation followed by 18 to 20 months of maturation in 100% new American oak hogsheads. Production runs approximately 7,000 to 9,000 cases per vintage, though Penfolds does not officially disclose figures. The 1955 Grange, 90% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, became the most decorated vintage, winning 12 trophies and 52 gold medals at Australian wine shows, and was later named one of Wine Spectator's Top 12 Wines of the 20th Century. In 2001, Grange was listed as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the National Trust, the only wine to receive this distinction.

• Grange 1976 received 100 points from Robert Parker; the 2008 vintage earned 100 points from both Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate, a first for any New World wine.
• The 2018 Grange received eight separate perfect 100-point scores from critics worldwide.
• Current retail pricing sits around AUD $1,000 per bottle, a price that has remained stable across recent vintages.

Penfolds' defining approach is multi-vineyard, multi-district blending guided by a 'house style' rather than single-site expression. The winery sources fruit from across South Australia, including its own Kalimna Vineyard (290 hectares with 153 under vine in the Barossa Valley), the historic Magill Estate (100% Shiraz, one of the world's few urban vineyards, 15 minutes from Adelaide CBD), and hundreds of independent growers. The Bin system, introduced by Schubert, originally referenced physical storage locations in the cellar. Key wines include Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz (warm-climate, multi-regional), Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz (cool-climate, French oak), Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (aged in ex-Grange barrels), and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. The white wine portfolio includes Yattarna Chardonnay (named from an indigenous word meaning 'little by little,' referencing the 144 trials to perfect it), Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay, and Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling. RWT (Red Winemaking Trial, Bin 798) was launched with the 1997 vintage as a French oak counterpart to the American oak-aged Grange.

• Bin 389 is known as 'Baby Grange' because it is matured in the same American oak barrels previously used for Grange.
• Penfolds purchased Kalimna Vineyard in 1945, making it the oldest continuously owned premium vineyard in the Barossa Valley under a single brand.
• Magill Estate Shiraz is a single-vineyard wine that is hand-picked and basket-pressed, with select parcels also submitted to Grange in chosen vintages.

Peter Gago joined Penfolds in 1989, initially working with sparkling wines before transitioning to reds as Penfolds Red Wine Oenologist. In 2002, he became the fourth Chief Winemaker, succeeding John Duval, who had held the role for 16 years. Duval's tenure saw the development of RWT Shiraz, Yattarna Chardonnay, and the Special Bin Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon. Under Gago's stewardship, the Penfolds red wine style has been refined toward greater elegance, with a lighter hand on oak and finer tannin management. Where young Grange once required a decade before it was approachable, recent vintages show earlier accessibility without sacrificing aging potential. Gago was named Wine Enthusiast Magazine's Winemaker of the Year in 2005, and in 2013 Penfolds received the publication's New World Winery of the Year award. In 2021, Gago was inducted into Decanter's Hall of Fame. Penfolds has also expanded internationally, producing wines in collaboration with partners in California's Napa Valley, Bordeaux, and China.

• John Duval was named Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1989; the 1990 Grange was named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 1995.
• Under Gago, Penfolds has maintained the stylistic template established by Schubert while pursuing incremental refinement in oak integration and tannin structure.
• Penfolds' international ventures include collaborations in Napa Valley and Bordeaux, extending the multi-regional blending philosophy beyond Australia.