Penfolds, RWT Bin 798 - Barossa Valley 2023

matthewjukes.com

18,5

par Matthew Jukes le 17/09/2025

The liberal use of French oak complements this wine, and it manages to tame the tannins without overpowering the fruit. RWT oscillates between raucously OTT performances and more measured, stealthy ones. This 2023 is a calm and civilised wine, with impressive depth of flavour and beautiful refinement throughout. Lovers of bigger, more ostentatious wines will perhaps find this a little too composed and demure, with not as much son et lumière as they might be looking for. Conversely, palates seeking detail and sophistication need look no further.

Vinous

par Angus Hughson le 10/09/2025

The 2023 Shiraz RWT Bin 798 has a charming, open-knit generosity of fruit, bursting with layers of fruit pastilles and new leather lifted by cherry and a well-balanced but rich helping of French oak. The youthful energy here is captivating, with subtle savory tones sitting in the background. This will build over time. It is an outlier in the RWT lineage with excellent integrity and potential

The Drinks Business

par Colin Hay le 27/08/2025

2023 (Barossa Valley; 100% Barossa Valley Shiraz; aged for 14 months in hogsheads of French oak, 69% of which are new; pH 3.6; 14.5% alcohol). A wine whose staggering quality probably didn’t seem possible after the multiple challenges of a trying, troubling and tricky spring – including flash floods and thunderstorms that delayed flowering. There’s no sense of any of that in the glass. This is a wonderfully svelte and succulent wine with plump raspberry and darker berry fruits vying for attention with the more subtle black cherry and stone fruits. Speaking of subtlety, there are delightful floral undertones here, accentuated rather than hidden by the sweet spices from the oak (which needs a little further time to integrate fully). There’s a little hint of cordite and incense and a touch of cedar and graphite that will become more prominent with age. Soft and caressing with the finest of polished tannins, this is accessible already but built to go the distance.