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World debut for PENFOLDS Icon & Luxury 2011

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-09 16:34

PENFOLDS WINE, Australia's most renowned wine cellar, once again kicks off their wine tasting tour through China from this year's April to June, sharing the legendary PENFOLDS WINE with local elites from different fields and communities. This time, the tour will visit 6 major cities of China: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Beijing. PENFOLDS not only showcases the celebrated charm of this hundred-year-old wine brand, but also provides a tasteful socializing platform for more esteemed guests to experience this exclusive wine tasting event.

PENFOLDS Debuts 2011 New Wines

From June 9 to 12, PENFOLDS brought a variety of their latest 2011 wines to guests and journalists at the Beijing Oriental Plaza. Including the 2008 Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz, which was first introduced by Penfolds only in China and Austria market in 2011, 2009 Penfolds Bin 138 Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre, 2008 Thomas Hyland Shiraz, 2009 Thomas Hyland Chardonnay, 2009 Koonunga Hill Cabernet Merlot and 2009 Koonunga Hill Shiraz. Led by a Penfolds brand ambassador named Mark, the guests not only tasted the wines, but also experienced the extraordinary charm of Penfolds. ASC Fine Wines, the sole distributor of PENFOLDS in China were invited to the exciting event.

The rich aroma and unique taste left deep impression to all the guests. Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz, a wine of 2008 vintage, was highly appreciated by Penforlds chief wine maker Peter Gago: "A debut vintage... awaiting the inheritance of those lucky people born in 2008!" Bin 150 is the most good wine of Penfolds Bin series expected in 2011.

Koonunga Hill and Thomas Hyland are also distinctive. Penfolds Koonunga Hill enjoys great popularity among Austrian high quality red wines. Since Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon came from the 1976 vintage, its reputation had already been established by the quality, value and consistency of the collection. The Thomas Hyland range fully demonstrated the pioneering spirit of Penfolds winemaker Thomas Hyland's, who is the son-in-law of Christopher Rawson Penfolds. Thomas Hyland wines are more contemporary, and its grape varieties have a unique aroma and structure.

Hundred Year Heritage Writes The Legend Today

PENFOLDS GROUP owns the most famous and biggest vineyards in Australia, with much color in its long history. It was founded in 1844 by Dr Christopher Rawson Penfolds, an English doctor who immigrated to Australia with his wife Mary, and started a vineyard in Adelaide, South Australia, becoming the forerunner of wine making in the area. Mary Penfolds assumed the running of the winery after the death of her husband in 1870, establishing the success of PENFOLDS in the future to come. What the Penfolds did not imagine at the time was that the vineyard they set up 160 years ago would become the pride of Australian wine making industry, and that the wine named after them and produced from their vineyard are so reputed around the globe. Without the influence of PENFOLDS the modern Australian wine industry would look very different indeed. Sitting comfortably outside the fads and fashions of the day, PENFOLDS has taken Australian wine to the world on a grand stage and forged a reputation for quality that is without peer.

The long heritage of PENFOLDS is one of the foundations of its success. Its story began with a high quality wine called Grange. Widely considered Australia's first growth' and its most collectable wine, Grange is highly prized locally and internationally. Employed by PENFOLDS in the 1950s, the chief winemaker Max Schubert not only produced the Australia's first high quality wine, but also lay the foundations for the country's wine making industry, putting both PENFOLDS' and his own name in the history of Australian wine making. Sixty years have passed since Grange first came out of the cellar, and PENFOLDS never cased to advance both the quality and variety of wines they produced: the BIN range in the 1960s, the re-launching of BIN 707 that highlighted the fine fruits of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1970s, the development of producing house style in 1983 and Chardonnay of top quality in 1995. Throughout these years, Grange has always been the flagship of PENFOLDS wine, maintaining the traditions and integrity of PENFOLDS, true to its origins in the brain of Max Schubert. It is still the icon of Australian wine with its extraordinary dimension and power, bypassing the fads and trends of modern wine making.

Of course, the success of PENFOLDS could not be made without the craftsmanship and expertise of their winemakers. The Chief Winemakers of PENFOLDS in the past six decades all share the same defining characteristic: they all had over ten years or even twenty years of experience before becoming the chief winemaker of PENFOLDS. From Max Schubert in the 1950s to Peter Gago today, they have passed the Chief Winemaker's baton of responsibility for crafting some of Australia's most iconic wines, ensuring that PENFOLDS' reputation for outstanding quality is upheld.

Over the course of the century, throughout periods of success and of difficulty, the aroma and flavor of the wine inside the oak barrels have remained active through the cellaring process. PENFOLDS not only stands for making wines of the best quality and character, but also pose as an exclusive, tasteful lifestyle, bookmarking the happiest moments of life.