05 Jun Off the Vine, Season 3, Ep 2

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Penfolds Vineyards: Australia is recognized as one of the great wine producing nations in the world. There are now literally thousands of wineries, but only one, Penfolds, has established itself as Australia’s most famous winery. It all started in 1844, when Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold planted a winery on the outskirts of Adelaide, where he produced a very fine port, which established his reputation as a wine maker. The company expanded and by the 1930s and 1940s was widely known for its sherry. Since the 1950s, Penfolds established a reputation for premium red wine with the development of Penfolds Grange, which is without question one of the great red wines made in the world today. It has also been recognised, formally, as an Australian icon. Such is the strength of Penfold’s red wine portfolio, it can over shadow the fact that they now produce some of Australia’s finest white wines – a diverse and profound range, from the widely heralded Penfold’s Yattarna Chardonnay through to the most recent new wine, the Thomas Hyland Chardonnay. Responsibility for these white wines rests with Penfold’s head of white winemaking, Oliver Crawford. Oliver, a former Australian Young Winemaker of the Year, oversees the crafting of Penfold’s 12 white wines from his Barossa Valley base. Former Chief Winemaker, John Duval, initiated the development of a premium white wine to partner Penfold’s Grange. There were 144 trial wines from 1993 ­ 1998 which in turn led to the Yattarna Chardonnay being called Bin 144.