Nick Stock is one of Australia’s most well-known and highly regarded wine critics. He co-owns McLaren Vale’s favourite beach front bar and restaurant the Silver Sands Beach Club and The Old Bush Inn Hotel, Willunga’s “top pub.”
Penfolds Collection 2025
Whether you collect Penfolds reds religiously, drink the odd bottle or simply follow the form guide of the star reds like Grange and Bin 707, there’s no more significant annual wine release from an Australian winery cellar. I ran some 2024 collection highlights in this column last year and, on the back of some enthusiastic feedback, here’s a more in-depth look at the 2025 Penfolds premium releases with a full set of tasting notes.
The headliner Grange 2021 claims its rightful position atop the honour board as a classically styled edition with immense cellaring potential. I love the 2021 Grange! It is a bullseye for the genre of big, bold and undeniably impressive South Australian shiraz.
There’s just the right amount of polish to this wine, without overplaying the refinement, the heart and soul remain fully intact, spectacularly so.
Other background to the punchy Grange 2021 includes the regional sourcing being Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley with 6% cabernet sauvignon included in the blend. From a cellaring angle, it aligns with the style of the great 1991 – leave this alone until at least 2035 to see the full cornucopia of characters in play and bank on another 25 years of rewarding drinking after that.
Their other top-line shiraz wines are all in very good form too. St. Henri 2022 is alluringly fleet of foot and has such attractive fruit purity. It drinks easily and impressively when young and will cellar very well. I’ve been saying for some years now that Magill Estate Shiraz is a superstar in the making and the 2023 continues the trajectory of this impressive and rare single parcel from the Magill Estate vineyard in front of the winery. Perplexingly intense aromas and flavours, complex too, it walks a cleverly focused, medium-bodied line.
The fan base for high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon is well served in the form of the 2023 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. Such distinctive Penfolds house style always looms large in this wine and this 2023 is explosive both in the glass and on the palate. There’s so much happening here, it needs time to marry up, and rest assured it will be mighty impressive when it all aligns in another five or six years. The more approachable Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon is also a worthy varietal flag-bearer and will be ready to drink in half the time of the Bin 707.
The 2023 Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is testament to the resilience of the cabernet shiraz blend as well as the significant resources that have been directed at growing Bin 389 in terms of both quality and volume in recent vintages. The Penfolds winemaking style looms large here, the youthful impact is impressive and, in the context of the entire Penfolds red offering, this is one of the real value wines in the 2025 collection. Even at $120 a bottle. If that’s a stretch, the Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2023 ($75) is worth every cent too.
I can’t let the quartet of chardonnay wines go without mention. As a set, these wines are right at the very pinnacle of contemporary Australian chardonnay. And year after year they remain some of the best value whites widely available in the global market. The Adelaide Hills Reserve Bin A 2024 is perhaps their finest ever release under this label. Do not miss this wine if you are a fan of great chardonnay!
Here are my notes for the full set of Australian wines in the 2025 Penfolds Collection release, they’re all available from August 7th. There really is something for every wine lover here. And for those that buy up on any or all of these bottles I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Enjoy the wines!
Nick
nickstock.com.au @stockwine
oldbushinn.com @oldbushinnhotel
silversandsbeachclub.com.au @silversandsbeachclub
Have a glass of…
Penfolds Bin 23 Pinot Noir 2024
Shows some cooler vintage restraint with red fruit focus and a pure heart of fine red fruit flavours and smoothly rendered tannins. There’s a fresh cherry pip kick at the finish. Vibrantly balanced. Drink now.
Penfolds Bin 21 Grenache 2024
Briary and brambly raspberry and red currant fruits take centre stage here. The palate holds a fresh and lithe feel, served up in easygoing, drink-now mode.
Penfolds Bin 138 Barossa Valley GSM 2023
Handy depth of fruit and layered style here, the strength of Penfolds blending on show. There’s a blue fruit and purple berry core, some cherry too. Polished and approachable Drink or hold.
Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2023
Bright red currant marks this fresh and vibrant shiraz with subtle leafy and regional mint-tinged tones. The palate holds a smoothly rendered feel with a bright juicy and quite elegant shape. Discreet power. Drink over the next decade.
Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz 2023
Plenty of darker and richer blackberry and black currant fruits drive this richer wine. It carries deep flavours easily, so well balanced and will develop nicely in bottle. Try from 2028 onwards.
Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2023
An inherently rich Western Barossa style with enveloping ripe blackberry fruits, dark plum and chocolate. There’s silkiness here too. This has been tamed and tuned a little in recent vintages to offer a smoother wine on release. Best from 2028.
Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
This is a wine that really delivers the briar, berry and leafy side of cabernet on the nose and then pitches into some riper dried berry fruits on the palate. The depth is undeniable and the tannins frame up sturdy fruit flesh here. From 2028.
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2023
A barometer of vintage for the Penfolds Aussie collection, this sits in an impressively resolved place with a sheen of toasty oak knitting together plum, blackberry, blueberry and black currant fruit aromas and flavours. Bold cabernet-forward palate. Best from 2027.
Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz 2022
Deep, complex and inherently fruit-driven with ripe red and dark berries framed in subtly spicy elements as well as a tarry, savoury edge, like iodine and nori. Smooth texture and deep flavours in a suave and effortless mode. Best from 2030-2050.
Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2023
Another strong release of this smaller make and the richness and intensity on offer here is really striking from the outset. Rich and ripe blackberry and dark plum fruits framed in toasted oak spices and roasted coffee. Pure, intense and unwavering palate. Try from 2030.
Penfolds Bin 798 RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2023
Shows some peppery, spicy and savoury notes. There’s a poise to the fruit here, nothing obvious or overstated. The palate has a really bold, juicy and fleshy feel, the fruit exuberance outpaces the oak and cannot be held back. All nicely resolved. Try from 2030.
Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
Always youthful energy on the nose, that settles into harmony in time – purple fruits, coconut and brambly formic tang. The palate has attractive depth and juiciness with oak sitting atop the rich and ripe black and blue fruits for now. Wait for the considerable fruit and oak to marry up. Best from 2031.
Penfolds Grange 2021
It’s all here! All manner of berries from red to blue and black, tarry notes and iodine, there’s a leather and cedar savoury edge as well as roasted coffee, dark chocolate or cocoa powder and a full array of sweet spices. Complex and so youthfully vibrant, it has a luxuriantly soft and supple feel on the palate, the cocoa powder dusted blackberry and dark plum fruits are so wonderfully delivered with suave richness and underlying power. From 2035.
Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2025
Super fresh and packed with ripe lemon, green mango and lime fruits as well as lemon sorbet notes and flinty regional stone and flint. The palate is attractively fleshy and juicy withripe stone fruit and lemon citrus flavours. Delicious. Drink or hold.
Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2024
A plethora of attractive chardonnay fruit on offer here with lemon and peach fruit aromas served up pure and vibrant – brioche, lemon curd and subtly spiced pastry too. The palate delivers the right freshness with layered richness. If you love contemporary chardonnay, this is a wine you need to be across. Drink now.
Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2024
Super polished Adelaide Hills chardonnay with flinty, grapefruit and lemon peel, peach and hazelnut, wet stones too. The palate has a succulent and really juicy feel with such supple and attractively fresh fruit underscored by vibrant acid structure. Smoothly finished and already so resolved. Drink or hold.
Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2023
So engaging from the get-go with complexity driven by fruit selection and winemaker influence. Really in the pocket with white and yellow peach, grapefruit and lemon citrus, hazelnut, nougat and fresh pastry all swirling on the nose and palate. So long and unwavering. A great Yattarna. Drink or hold.
