Penfolds
Yattarna Chardonnay Bin 144
South Australia
2021

The producer

Penfolds history is much more than the story of Grange. 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.

Yattarna Chardonnay was first released in 1998 with the 1995 vintage – a name fittingly chosen to honour the 144 winemaking trials it took to perfect our flagship white wine. The name “Yattarna” itself is drawn from First Nations culture, meaning “little by little; gradually”.

The inaugural release marked an exciting new chapter in the Penfolds story, generating unparalleled anticipation in the Australian wine industry. The media dubbed Yattarna "White Grange", propelling it onto the front pages of newspapers nationwide.

Fruit selection plays a critical element in determining the character of the Yattarna style. It is a blend that traverses multiple vineyards and regions, spanning New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, focusing on the cool spectrum of flavours. Techniques such as whole bunch pressing, barrel fermentation including wild yeasts, malolactic fermentation and yeast stirring all shape the elegantly styled Yattarna.

The wine

Penfolds flagship chardonnay.  The 2021 vintage exudes a citrus restraint with pink grapefruit and lemon curd flavours, supported by textural crème brûlée richness, hazelnut and fresh nougat. Complex, layered and enticing, this wine will comfortably cellar for 20 years. 

The release of Yattarna Chardonnay, after 144 winemaking trials, marked a new chapter in the Penfolds story. The inaugural 1995 vintage was arguably the most talked about and early anticipated white wine in Australian history - dubbed by the media as “White Grange”, it reached the front pages of Australia’s national newspapers. The elegant style epitomises the finesse, restraint and character of modern Australian chardonnay. It is best enjoyed within a three- to 12-year time frame – the wines benefit from some bottle age.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. 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 a 92/100 average 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.