Editor’s Introduction: Since 1844, when Founder Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold first planted grapes at the Magill Estate near Adelaide, Penfolds has set the agenda for Australian winemaking, and been an icon and ambassador for the country’s wines overseas. Its famed house style showcases multi-regional, multi-varietal and multi-vineyard blending in expressions that have in many cases, over time, established their own personalities and reputations.
Although it has produced wines for 175 years, the Treasury Wine Estates brand has only ever had four Chief Winemakers – Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and since 2002, Peter Gago.
Gago joined the winemaking team in 1989, initially to craft sparkling wines, before moving on to reds as Penfolds Red Wine Maker and later, to his current role. Today, he’s the custodian of a tradition that stretches back across those 175 years, but he also has a firm eye on the future.
In this interview with The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt, Gago talks about marrying heritage and modernity, about pushing the boundaries of innovation and about the role that travel retail plays in amplifying Penfolds’ values and qualities.
The Moodie Davitt Report: Peter, as Penfolds marks 175 years, what are the challenges in maintaining tradition while innovating and looking ahead?
Peter Gago: It’s true that there is a tension between preserving heritage and looking forward. You can’t live in the past – although we have a glorious past. We know we have to push the boundaries all the time but there was always an air of innovation, particularly from the 1940s onwards, against that traditional backdrop.
Look at Bin 389 now [a Cabernet Shiraz developed by then Chief Winemaker Max Schubert, creator of Penfolds Grange -Ed], which is approaching 60 vintages. St. Henri was resurrected in the 1950s but it goes back to the 1890s. There is a balance to strike; we need to protect one end of the equation and project into the new era.
Alongside all of that in our core Australian ranges we have many new things happening today in the northern hemisphere, from California to Bordeaux. We have trust, credibility and relationships now that maybe we were not recognised for in the past. One of those is our new Champagne project with House Thiénot*, which would have been unimaginable ten to 20 years ago.
That is an example of Penfolds at the cutting edge, and is a by-product of relationships, obsession, Treasury Wines Estates support and the legitimacy of the Penfolds brand. That came not from one of these elements, but from them all, and is a lovely base to build from.
*As reported, the Champagne partnership with Thiénot features a Chardonnay Pinot Noir Cuvée and two single vineyard wines – a Blanc de Blancs and a Blanc de Noirs – which combined make up the Champagne Thiénot x Penfolds range. All are from 2012 vintages. The first was released initially in June at Heinemann Tax & Duty Free Sydney, followed by other airport locations. The 2012 Champagne Thiénot x Penfolds Blanc de Blancs and 2012 Champagne Thiénot x Penfolds Blanc de Noirs will be released in 2020.
Tell us about that alliance with House Thiénot to make a Champagne range to mark this anniversary. How did it come about and what has it delivered?
Penfolds has a long association with sparkling wines going back over a century so this is not an overnight, fanciful thing. It’s very powerful having bottles and half bottles from our sparkling wine history in the cellars. And that is what we have built on.
House Thiénot are a wonderful, entrepreneurial group. They are not insular or myopic and very much look to the future. Working with them was much easier than I imagined and it is an honour to see this first collaboration of its kind for an Australian winery.
The Chardonnay Pinot Noir was the first to come out and then we will introduce Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs from the single vineyards. It is pitched at the top end, which is very much the Penfolds way. We work from the top, as we do in our reds. These will all age well and you can drink them today or in 20 years’ time.
When we began, we looked at the great 2008 Champagne vintage, but then we tried the 2012 and it just worked. With the single vineyard we get what mother nature gives us – and people will love what has emerged.
These Champagne references were available initially through Heinemann at Sydney Airport and have since rolled out through travel retail in other regions. What’s your view of this channel as a showcase for wines?
It’s a hugely important channel for Penfolds. Most of the first release of this Champagne is being sold through the airport channel and it’s doing amazingly well.
Global travel retail is a huge focus. It’s a two-way street where everyone can win. I like the interactive, educational mode and the use of technology is increasingly important.
If you can create a mini Cellar Door with staff who are passionate and can explain and make the experience authentic, it can be very positive. That has been very good for us. At Penfolds it’s about having the right ambassadors who can make a connection, and who keep things real and simple.
You can make travel retail a space where people are not threatened but drawn in. It can then be either a ‘soft’ experience or you can take it to ten decimal places in terms of education. You can offer people something they cannot buy at retail elsewhere and can even go down the luxury pathway, just as spirits do.
It’s important to show some back vintage and boutique wines too. If I’m at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX I want to see Californian vintages that I cannot find elsewhere.
On the wider opportunities, how do you see the emergence of China? As a winemaker do you feel prompted to move towards particular styles that suit the tastes of a vast but still emerging market in wine terms?
Innovation won’t stop but you cannot just slavishly follow the latest cycle or you’d never catch up. We have a large portfolio and fortunately have something that resonates with all tastes, from enthusiasts to entry level consumers.
It’s not to say we know best, but we do know what works. We have had success with Penfolds even before we knew there was this vast Chinese market. Bin 28 has been big, so too 707, 389, 407, the Cabernet-based expressions. The Cabernet Shiraz shows we are having success with some crossover styles.
We have had luck in finding expressions with a certain level of tannin that suits the taste in China. And with the baijiu partnership [Lot 518 Spirited Wine with Baijiu, released in 2018 -Ed] we were honoured to create something in our fortification range for that market. This was a break from traditional conventions to experiment and innovate, with the floral notes of the baijiu meeting the signature style of our fortified Shiraz.
That has also enabled us to tap into new markets and make Penfolds more user-friendly to new demographics. You cannot downgrade the importance of these different styles.
What wine styles do you see coming to the fore at home and even around the world? How are consumer tastes changing?
Rosé is huge at the moment and we expect to see that and other new trends by region continuing.
With Penfolds it’s more about refinements and optimising certain styles rather than trying to spin a wheel and going in a different direction. What we have done is add a tier called Penfolds Max’s Shiraz [a tribute to Max Schubert -Ed], which moves away from direct entry into the Bins. But you cannot just chase the millennials; in a few years they won’t be millennials any more!
If you can get people into the world of wine, then that is the opportunity, rather than moving the goalposts from one style to another. Our path is a proven one. We have a few balls in the air but we don’t need any more as I am not a good juggler!
We’ve never gone for the big fashionable statement; it’s about balance for us. It’s about accessibility. Our styles are what they are and we don’t try to change them.
What are the big concerns for you today as a winemaker? Is climate change top of that list?
Climate change is a big issue for sure, and we see it happening around us. But we have been future-proofing Penfolds for a long time, even from the 1800s, where we went south to Coonawarra or up to altitude for our wines depending on the conditions.
We are probably better placed than many because we make the house styles that we do. Of course you have the single vineyard wines where you are beholden to the weather gods in one place. We cannot move the Block 42 Cabernet vineyard for example. But we do make multi-regional varietals, single region wines with different aspects and elevations and our terroir-driven single vineyard wines.
Now there is also the multi-country style, which is what our Californian or Bordeaux projects are about, as are our Champagnes. That is the fourth style of wine we are involved in. That’s about spreading risk and that will be the future.
But climate change isn’t about just warming. It’s warmer, it’s colder, it’s wetter, it’s windier, it’s hailier, it’s all of these things. So we bend our knees, keep our backs straight and across 175 years we’ve got vineyards and wines that live on amid the change.
Take Yattarna, our flagship Chardonnay that was released first in 1998 but was a vintage from 1995. It was purely from South Australia at the beginning but the very next year we went to the Snowy Mountains, the next year to southern Victoria. It took us to 2006 to reach Tasmania, and Tasmanian fruit has been included each year since. So our flagship white wine has been blended across four states in Australia. There is so much crossover in wine that has been going a long time.
What do you think is Penfolds’ role as a reference point not only for the group but as the great ambassador brand for Australian wines overseas? Do you feel the burden of that – and of Penfolds history?
Penfolds has been endorsed as the luxury exponent of Australian wine and those are big shoes to fill. There is a responsibility and a challenge but we are up to it.
We have had the latest launch and collection of Grange that has been awarded 100 points. The 2016 St. Henri is one of the top four in the past 60 years, alongside 1971, 1990 and 2010 as the A-team of this expression.
We go in with authenticity and a real story. But with the Penfolds team behind me, I can go and tell the story. We have gifted winemakers from the southern to northern hemisphere working all year round to support that – across bottling, blending and winemaking.
After 30 years in the business and 17 years in this role, what gets Peter Gago up for work in the morning today?
Obsession – but it’s obsession married with excitement and with many other things. There are challenges and there is responsibility. There is the custodian role within our winemaking department. There is an obligation to the 175 years and there is respect for that heritage, not only at Penfolds but also that responsibility to be an ambassador for Australian wine.
We have had ownership changes but always managed to do the right thing by Penfolds. I’d like to think that Penfolds today is a culture, not just a brand.
For me, no two days are the same. I’m like a kid in a sweet shop really. I get paid to do something I love. For a guy originally from South Shields in northern England, it is a dream job.
