THE PRODUCER
In 1844 Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold planted vine cuttings they had brought
from Europe at Magill Estate in South Australia. Through innovation and hard
work, Penfolds was South Australia’s largest winery by the early twentieth
century so winemaker Max Schubert walked into a successful operation in 1948.
His experiments with different blends of wines and the use of American oak led
to the creation of wines were ground-breaking. So much so that the Grange
project started in 1951 was officially shelved several years later, although
wines were made and stored in secret until it was officially re-instated in
1960.

Near the same time the “Bin” concept started. Simply named after their storage
bin, wines of different source and blend were given bin numbers on release. Some
of these became continual releases to this day, others had short runs or were
only released in exceptional years. Several of these individual Bin wines – such
as 60A, 620, 42, etc. – are now wines of legendary status.

Some of the greatest red wines of the 1950s and 60s in Australia were made by
blending wines from different areas to create a consistent style. Penfolds has
continued this with many of their range … rich, sumptuous wines mostly with the
spicing of American oak.  Penfolds has evolved its styles over the years and now
produce an exemplary range of blended and specific regional (South Australian)
shiraz styles. There are many choices in the range but we have selected three
outstanding wines - Grange Bin 95, St Henri Shiraz and Ben 389 Cabernet-Shiraz.

THE WINE
Penfolds Grange Bin 95 is the undoubted flagship of the Penfolds range. Since
the 1960s Penfolds Grange (originally “Hermitage” as Syrah was known in much of
Australia at the time) has been recognized as the greatest Australian red wine.
Blended from various sources of the Penfolds vineyards, expanding its sources
over the years, it is matured in all new American oak and released with several
years bottle age. International fame came in the 1980s and demand accelerated
until today Grange is one of the most famous wines in the world.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:1998Country:AustraliaRegion:South AustraliaSub region:South
Australia Regional Blends
Grape:97% Shiraz & 3% Cabernet SauvignonStyle:Rich and IntenseSweetness:DryABV:
14.5%Drinking window:2010 - 2045
Size:750mlFood match:Beef and Venison



CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.