Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz

The single vineyard Magill Estate Shiraz is intrinsically linked to Penfolds beginnings. Sourced from the Magill vineyard on the edge of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs (just eight kilometres from the city’s CBD), fruit is crushed, fermented and matured on-site at the original Penfolds Magill Estate Winery, established in 1844. Magill Estate Shiraz, first produced in 1983, is an elegant, medium-weight style with velvety texture and fine tannins, matured in both French and American oak. It is a sleek, contemporary wine, yet crafted the original way: hand-picked, vinified in open fermenters and then basket pressed to complete fermentation in barrel.

2018

Wine Advocate 92: The only single-estate wine in the lineup, the 2018 Magill Estate Shiraz is pieced together from the five hectares at Penfolds HQ in the Adelaide suburbs. Boysenberry and mulberry notes support vanilla and cedar accents, and there's a touch of roasted meat as well on the nose, while the full-bodied palate comes across as a bit coarse and open-knit, the tannins lacking that little extra bit of refinement. It's a fine effort but nowhere near the best wine in the Penfolds stable.

Vinous 95: Saturated ruby. Highly expressive, spice- and mineral-accented cherry, blackcurrant and violet pastille aromas are complemented by suggestions of vanilla, pipe tobacco and licorice. Sweet, seamless and penetrating in the mouth, offering densely packed dark berry, bitter cherry, mocha and fruitcake flavours and a snap of peppery spice. Shows excellent focus and appealing sweetness on a strikingly long, juicy finish that features repeating florality and subtle, slow-building tannins.

Decanter 91: Always a more fine-boned Shiraz expression, this year’s model has higher, lighter notes of nutmeg and clove with a waft of anise and liquorice. While deliberately medium bodied, the palate weight seems a bit gaunt, abruptly shifting gears and lurching from a solid black cherry entry to a taut acid seam that stretches out the mid-palate. Compared with previous vintages, this seems wanting – a likely sign that vineyard restoration of this site has drastically reduced grape volumes and selection options for this vintage.