Penfolds : Yattarna V Chardonnay

A sneak peek at the new five-vintage cuvée of Yattarna Chardonnay (a partner to Grange's G5) reveals the great ambition of this elite multi-regional blend, showing the sum of all its parts at their absolute best. Combining equal proportions of the 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and currently unreleased 2021 vintages, there is a more assured swell of savory secondary characteristics (roasted hazelnut, brioche and oyster shell) woven among the bright fruit notes, showing radiant lemon, white peach and a squeeze of grapefruit. In a single bottle, it shows the benefits that aged Chardonnay brings without surrendering the shimmering beauty of fresh primary fruit. To be released in late 2022.

The NV Chardonnay V is a multi-vintage blend of Yattarna that was only recently blended and bottled, and it remains quite tightly bound yet shows impressive complexity that builds in the glass. There’s an unusual mix of waxy, pithy, almost salty aromas over pear, citrus and nougat, with oak sitting quietly in the background. Younger vintages in the blend provide vibrant upfront acidity before flavors of citrus, butter and honey emerge over a long, fine finish. A unique and curious Chardonnay experience.

The newly introduced multi-vintage wine, created with five vintages of Penfolds fruit from cool-climate Tasmania and Adelaide Hills. Compelling flavours, where you get the waxy edge of an older wine and cold ash aromatics that show some maturity, alongside plenty of taut white fruit and green apple notes, with edges of lychee and steel. It's delicious and thoroughly easy to recommend, but my heart still heads to the single-vintage Chardonnay. Peter Gago, chief winemaker.

Penfolds V Yattarna Chardonnay Five Vintage Blend is a super-blend composed of 20% each of 2021, 2016, 2014, 2012, and 2011. All the wines were transferred from bottles under inert conditions to make the blend, of which there are only 2220 bottles. It slowly emerges from the glass with very delicate notes of lemongrass, fresh yellow apples, salted almonds, and grapefruit oil, plus a hint of crushed rocks. The light-bodied palate is much more open-knit than the nose, delivering a harmonious pleasure that you never see in newly bottled Yattarna, which is always so tightly wound when young. With a satiny texture and a racy backbone, the apple, almond, and chalky flavors go on and on and on. Iconoclastic, yes, but also very delicious.

When Peter explained this wine to me prior to tasting it, I was skeptical. Nervous. Hesitant. “It’s the essence of Yattarna, in effect,” Gago said. The NV V is composed of 20% each of 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and the yet-to-be-released 2021 Yattarna. It’s risky behavior, this. Each of the already-bottled older vintages is emptied under gas pressure and blended—an equal share each way. It’s tempting to compare it to the G3, G4, G5 project; however, in each of those wines, the vintage contributions are distinct and recognizable. Here, the vintages are synergistic, melded together—easier to understand in the context of reserve wines in Champagne, or even a solera. There is pert acidity and precision on the front palate, presumably thanks to the 2021 vintage. Through the mid-palate and finish, the wine plumes and grows in the mouth. It is infinitely more complex and deep than the single-vintage Yattarna tasted next to it. This V has a thundering baritone, a resonance to the reverberation of flavor in the mouth. It almost vibrates. It is only through the finish that you can taste the evolution of the oldest wines—a lick of salt, almond skin, brine and toasted crushed nuts. This is a monumental wine. A 360-degree view of Chardonnay. Truly kaleidoscopic. 2,200 bottles in total.