Penfolds Special Bins hold a significance and place among generations of wine collectors. The experimental bottlings of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are numerous and almost impossible to fully catalogue. Prior to the 1970s they were affixed with the famous Penfolds Postage Stamp label, with typewritten description of the wine and the bottling date.

The last of the experimental bottlings during the Max Schubert era were probably the 1973 Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and 1973 Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz. By the 1980s the experimental bottlings became known as Special Bins. Previously destined for wine shows, tastings and internal use, these bottlings became fully available to collectors.

Some early examples are prototypes for masterpieces including Bin 95 Grange or Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. Later bottlings are exploratory blends created to understand how varieties and/or regional fruit interact. Needless to say, Penfolds red winemaking style has been developed and improved through its ongoing limited production of Special Bin vintages.

1948 KALIMNA CABERNET SAUVIGNON ««««« Chief Winemaker Max Schubert produced this one-off Kalimna Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon with fruit from Penfolds mid-1880s planted Block 42 vineyard. This wine was assembled around 1950 and may have been an inspiration for Grange. Schubert had initially hoped that Grange would be cabernet based,  and even made an experimental Grange Cabernet and Grange Cabernet Hermitage, before he settled on shiraz (then called Hermitage) as the principal variety.

The wine was never released commercially.

1953 BIN 9 GRANGE CABERNET «««« Drink now.

The 10-acre Block 42 was planted only 30 years after the great 1855 Bordeaux Classification and comprises the oldest known pre-phylloxera plantings of cabernet sauvignon in the world.

Max Schubert experimented with parcels of Block 42 cabernet during the development phase of Penfolds Grange. He recognised the extraordinary potential of this vineyard site through the special bottlings of the late 1940s. Those early but very limited wines made from pressings and matured in old oak puncheons were deeply concentrated with immense flavour and classical fine-grained tannins. Max Schubert said: A variation occurred in 1953 in that, in addition to Hermitage, a straight cabernet sauvignon from our Kalimna Vineyard in the Barossa Valley was made experimentally, employing the same method of production as for Grange. The quantity made was five hogsheads, as in 1951. The decision to make an experimental cabernet at all, despite the shortage of this variety, was influenced by the fact that in

1953 the analytical balance of the grapes was similar to that laid down for Grange. A few bottles of 1952 Penfolds Grange Cabernet have also appeared at auction.

Medium-deep brick crimson. Evolved red cherry and tobacco aromas with hessian/musty notes. Attractive red cherry, redcurrant, tobacco leaf, Amaro liqueur and earthy flavours, fine loose-knit grainy tannins and long and fresh acidity. Still drinking quite well but near its end point. Quite rare.

1954 BIN 158 SPECIAL BOTTLING (QUARRY PADDOCK MATARO) «««« Drink now to soon.

Medium-deep brick crimson. Fresh red cherry and shellac aromas with tobacco and aniseed notes. A well-developed palate with red cherry, bitter dark chocolate and sweet fruit flavours, supple-fine chalky tannins and integrated acidity. A very rare bottling of Quarry Paddock Mataro. The vineyard, highly prized by mid-20th century Penfolds winemakers, has long disappeared a casualty to the urbanisation of Adelaide. Drinking well.

1958 BIN 47 SPECIAL DRY RED «««« Drink now to soon.

Medium-brick crimson. Fresh cherry cola and chinotto aromas with carob and dark chocolate notes. Well developed, but still fresh and balanced with developed sweet fruit, dark chocolate and cola flavours, fine-brisk tannins, mid-palate generosity and a long, slightly sinewy finish. Still holding up well.

Australian winemaking

history. NICK RYAN

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