POLL: The Penfolds Collection 2022 - Are you buying any this year?

[Sean]

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[A_Steady]

Unlikely to buy any this year - but I will likely but some of this years (release) vintages in the future when there are sales, dicount codes, and cashback / Amex statement credits that can all be stacked to bring the price down to something I'm comfortable with.

[phillisc]

Dreadful that I am saying this...but could be tempted by the 169....no not really
I am loving 2019 Coonawarra so far. That said can get Majella GPL, JR, Parker FG, Odyssey, Tally for around one third or less then the prices quoted here.
Cheers Craig

[VinoEd]

Probably have a dip at St Henri once the deals come in.

The 2018 Grange is getting some serious wraps… out of my budget, but I am heading to the Penfolds tasting event in Melbourne on Friday night to sample it.

Cheers Ed

[Ian S]

None.

I find the bin 28 vs bin 128 pricing interesting, as whilst I've enjoyed the latter more, I'm sure I'm very much in the minority. $10 more for the Bin128

[Sean]

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[phillisc]

Bin 128 is a joke and has been for a long time, flicks between being green/tannic/overly acidic/over oaked. There were a few vintages in the 80s and 90s that were drinkable.
I cannot understand this wine being such a poor representation from a premium area and apart from Magill just comes from the one region.
RRP $60, Street price low $40s
Wynns shiraz RRP $25, Street price $11-12, Wynns Black label shiraz ( incidentally of some of the oldest vines in Coonawarra planted in 1895) and can be had at $30, is a far better proposition.
Guess all's fair in love and war, Pennies have never been able to make a good Coonawarra Shiraz...simples!

Bin28 (formerly Kalimna) on the other hand was a superstar wine, fabulous run of wines in the 80s/90s and 00s before the label was diluted and best fruit syphoned off elsewhere.

Cheers Craig

[Barney]

They priced me out many years ago after having been an annual buyer for about 15 years, will never go back....as others have said is much better value out there.

[mychurch]

I suppose we can have another poll on how low the prices will go. Its not just Pennies, but there are lots of wines with very large RRP, which end up costing a fraction in the real world - House of Arras is one that I buy. Vintage is something like $130 RRP, but I have only ever seen that price once in the shops. Avialable on special every few months for just under $60.

I presume Grange will be around $800 at the major outlets.

[GraemeG]

Ha ha ha! Bin 407 for $120? Tell 'em they're dreamin'. I wouldn't even give you $40 for it.
Where's 707?

[mjs]

Dreadful that I am saying this...but could be tempted by the 169....no not really
I am loving 2019 Coonawarra so far. That said can get Majella GPL, JR, Parker FG, Odyssey, Tally for around one third or less then the prices quoted here.
Cheers Craig

Ditto on the 169

[phillisc]

Dreadful that I am saying this...but could be tempted by the 169....no not really
I am loving 2019 Coonawarra so far. That said can get Majella GPL, JR, Parker FG, Odyssey, Tally for around one third or less then the prices quoted here.
Cheers Craig

Ditto on the 169

Malcolm, you talk to your people, I'll talk to mine...any TWE shareholders out there? They supposedly get special rates
cheers Craig

[Sean]

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[phillisc]

I agree, some 2020s that I have tried, continually leave me thinking 2019 is a far superior vintage
Cheers Craig

[Ian S]

Maybe there is a lot more 28 than 128?

I suspect that's true

[I Love Shiraz]

The value for money with Penfolds is terrible. I also dislike their multi-regional blending focus.

[felixp21]

one of the reasons I buy a particular wine is that it gives a sense of place, terroir as the French say.
Penfolds wines have pretty-well zero of that. Most are multi-regional blends, which I actually find quite absurd.
Each to his or her own, though. I'm not saying my approach is correct, but that is why I haven't purchased a single bottle of Penfold's wine for decades.

[Ian S]

one of the reasons I buy a particular wine is that it gives a sense of place, terroir as the French say.
Penfolds wines have pretty-well zero of that. Most are multi-regional blends, which I actually find quite absurd.
Each to his or her own, though. I'm not saying my approach is correct, but that is why I haven't purchased a single bottle of Penfold's wine for decades.

I'm less fussed by it, as long as the end result is to my tastes, and I can trust the winery to maintain that, rather than feeling like they've just pulled a 'bait and switch'. There again I'll happily drink Bordeaux wines, blending across their holdings (not always at the same classed growth level as they are selling it as either) and blending different grapes.

The logic is that they can maintain a consistent style through blending, albeit the style that Penfolds aims for isn't a style I particularly like! (and most definitely I don't like the prices).

There's a price to play for single vineyard specificity, and Barolo/Barbaresco winemakers didn't take long to latch onto that. Single vineyard bottles do come at a useful €premium. Whilst side by side I can taste differences, give me a standalone bottle and I would absolutely be guessing at the vineyard if tasting blind. I'm ok with that premium, on the basis that if I do taste side by side at the winery, I'm able to more specifically choose to buy what appeals.

[Chuck]

Haven't bought for around 20 years. Sold or drank everything. Much better value elsewhere. $50 for Bin 28 is a joke. Let the Chinese buy Grange and mix it with Coke within a year of purchase.

[Scotty vino]

I never really plan to buy penfolds. But last few years ive dropped into the Nuri cellar door and its always a pretty good experience.
Always attentive and happy to open just about anything.

Can often grab a 2 for 1 deal and there's always some cellar release gear stuff thats of half decent value.
In the past I've bought Magill estate shiraz and reserve bin chards in a 2 for 1 deal.
311 chardonnay seems to hold its own (kinda) in Yattarna and reserve bin Chardonnay tastings in my experience and price is reasonable.

Sometimes take it , sometimes leave it. Bin 128 / 28 have spiralled out of control. Bin 28 seems to have doubled in price overnight.
For 20-30 $$ it was an ok buy but now yeah nah.

And for tasting side by side over recent years the Bin 150 towels up St Henri every time.

[Alan Foo]

There are too........many Bin around and their numbers keep on increasing. Never been interested in trying any of their new Bins (too many Bins number to remember). Have not been buying any Penfolds for the last 20 years except 12 bottles of 2010 St Henri when it was only $75 per bottle.

[Sean]

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[phillisc]

Hell what an epistle Sean
Ironically it reflects all that is TWE, a lot of sizzle and not much else.
Interestingly re Wynns, wynnsday non existent now and a manager at DM told me we sell a case or two of the premiums, and all the punter wants is the cheapest price for BL.
After that stock remains for years. There must be warehouses bursting full of the stuff...only so much the punters can buy...even those with deep pockets

Cheers Craig

[Sean]

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[phillisc]

Thanks Craig.

I was also trying to remember the year we got three Penfolds releases. I think it was in 2014 they had a release in Mar, May and Oct.

Must have needed the extra cash that year.

Maybe the days of release events and tastings in wine stores are on the way out?

The PR gurus at wine companies might want to tap into the world of Instagram influencers and online buyer frenzy days instead?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't want footballers wives and WAGs getting involved. There are a certain couple in Melbourne floating around that thinks their poo don't stink and they pay for f8ck all and charge companies for the 'privilege'

I agree with you store tastings are going the way of the dodo, particularly with the pandemic. Here's an idea for the PR dept...why don't Pennies invite the punters up for a BBQ on the Magill Estate lawns, charge say $50 and open the whole range and provide decent pours in decent glassware and get the real lie of the land. Or do what Baz Lurlmann does in inviting the punters in for a pre-screening, to get feedback on the plot/ending of a film, and see if it needs editing, before commercial release.
I am happy to volunteer my services!!!
Cheers Craig

[sjw_11]

I just realised I received a BBR offer for these wines recently...
Just for your curiosity, current UK pricing (including VAT + taxes) in current AUD equivalent is about:
407= $85 (£231/6 pack in bond)
389= $77 (£207/6 pack in bond)

The Bin 28 is about $40 and the 128 just slightly higher.

Honestly I voted "no" in the poll, but looking at that I could almost be tempted by a sixer of the 389.

[Dragzworthy]

In Singapore I just got an offer on 6x Bin 389 at SGD 347 in bond...so about AUD 360

I'm still not buying anything.

[phillisc]

Yep, Harrods wine shop in London in 2018 both had St Henri and John Riddoch at $30-40 cheaper than Adelaide street price. What I would say is a classic example of how its all gone wrong...screwing over the domestic market.
Cheers Craig

[DJ]

Like many people Penfolds (with Wynns) was the core of my starting a cellar but the pricing has gone from good value for money to "fully" priced

It really makes you reconsider. I have bought relatively little in the last 15 years but .... a couple of weeks ago I opened a 1998 St Henri damn I like that wine - okay what do I really miss - St Henri & Bin 28 - okay I'll get 3 bottles of each a year

Agree with phillisc - what is the story with Bin 128 - along with Mildara Coonawarra Shiraz but me off Coonawarra Shiraz for quite a while (back in the early 1990s) - could be quite nasty. Fortunately the 1993 Wynns reminded me they could be good

[Sean]

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