Magill Estate Shiraz 2016
Penfolds
Magill Estate Shiraz 2016
Penfolds
Magill Estate Shiraz 2016
Overview
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 Penfolds Magill Estate 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.
| Varietal | Shiraz |
|---|---|
| Vintage | 2016 |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | South Australia |
| Volume | 750 mL |
| Closure | Cork |
| Alc/Vol | 14.5% |
| Peak Drinking | Now - 2035 |
| Winemaker | The Penfolds Team |
Awards and Accolades
Awards and Accolades
| 96 points | Huon Hooke |
| 95 points | Campbell Mattinson |
| 93 points | James Halliday |
Huon Hooke
"Deep, bright red/purple colour. The bouquet is disarmingly attractive with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry nuances, background vanilla and chocolate, the palate soft and supple, rounded and silky-smooth, with fruit sweetness and fine-grained tannins in perfect balance. A stunning wine, elegantly-framed and deliciously drinkable now, although it will undoubtedly age well. Full-bodied but far from being a blockbuster. Hard to resist now."
Campbell Mattinson
"The Penfolds wine with the fewest travel miles. It’s grown and made on-site at the Magill winery on the kind-of-outskirts of Adelaide. It spends 13 months in new French and American oak. I have so much history with this wine that I’ve now blocked it on Facebook. I jest; the point is that I bring a deal to the table before I’ve lifted the first glass. It’s single vineyard and special and unique in the Penfolds line but more than anything it’s a festival of oak. It wears a t-shirt with the words HISTORY IS YESTERDAY’S NEWS emblazoned on the front. Actually no it doesn’t. It’s more like BE SOMEONE ELSE. This 2016 though is bold, brilliantly red/black fruited (a gobful of red licorice, inter alia), sloshed with creamy, resiny, vanillin oak and quite desperately impressive, despite itself, and despite me. I thought I had it covered and in a clinch it threw an uppercut that I never saw coming. Lights out. It’s one of the best Magill Estate’s I’ve seen."
Food Pairing
Food Pairing
Beef
Lamb
Duck
Veg
Pizza
Taste Description
Taste Description
Nose
Florals omnipresent – lavender, lilac, nasturtium.
Welcomed V.A. propelled by Magill fruits, coupled by a barrel ferment nut husk(iness).
Flavours and Palate
Forceful. A palate certainly densely packed, yet still structurally meshed, woven. In 2016 the microclimate(s) and soils of Magill’s undulating 5.2ha have released flavours of liquorice (red), anise, sour cherry and molasses. Also, and not to omit – hazelnut brulée snap/crust, possibly derived via both oak and fruit. A structural sum of its (winemaking) parts – open fermentation/daily rack and returns/basket pressed/ barrel fermentation – texturally consistent, tannins explained; balance and longevity ensured. A Magill 2016 time capsule in your 750ml bottle. Might some of what is noted above still be perceived in the decades ahead? All will be revealed … in time.
Viticulture Vintage & Winemaking
Viticulture Vintage & Winemaking
Magill Estate, South Australia
Magill Estate is intrinsically linked to Penfolds beginnings, first established in 1844. A single vineyard monopole, Magill Estate is one of the world’s few urban vineyards. The vineyard is 100% Shiraz and fruit from the vineyard contributes to the Magill Estate Shiraz, with select parcels also being submitted to Penfolds flagship, Grange, in chosen vintages.
Vintage Conditions
The Magill Estate vineyard recorded maximum and minimum temperatures well below average during winter and early spring while winter rainfall was below the long-term average. The record low rainfall prevailed through the growing season while warmer than average weather in late spring and early summer ensured the vines were moving along nicely after a slow start. Some relief was provided by the onset of cooler weather in January and February. The relatively mild conditions during harvest ensured the fruit was able to ripen evenly across all blocks. The grapes were harvested by hand on February 11th and 12th.
The Penfolds Team
Key to the success of Penfolds has been a lineage of visionary winemakers. There have only ever been four Chief Winemakers at the helm of Penfolds – Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago, each a custodian of a rich winemaking tradition that goes back for more than 170 years.
Our current Penfolds winemaking team has more than 100 years between them as Penfolds winemakers. They are constantly refining and improving their work, whilst honouring the winemaking techniques of their predecessors.