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Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling

The Penfolds revolution in red winemaking reached chardonnay in the last decade. It seems this decade the refinement has come to riesling, and no vintage exemplies this more emphatically than 2013. Not that this season will go down among the greatest Bin 51s but that it’s set apart because, for the first time, it pushes Bin 51 ahead of all but the most revered Eden Valley rieslings. This is one of the highlights of the season, and I’ve never said this of Bin 51 before. To achieve this in a season that tends toward overt phenolics is all the more noteworthy, because it’s been in firm phenolics that I’ve been most critical of Bin 51 in the past. Instead, this release might hail a new era for Penfolds riesling, one of impressive focus, honed determination, admirable precision and evently poised acidity. It draws out into a long, linear tail of tightly defined acidity, mineral structure and impressive carry of kaffir lime, red apple and crabapple flavour. $24 at Dan Murphy’s, Nicks and WineStar (2012).