Penfolds Club Classic Tawny
Friday, July 24, 2009 at 12:42PM One of the features of Quaff that I most enjoy is our Hall of Fame which consists of the Stand-out wines and The Reliables. The latter, reduced to a dozen in Quaff 2009, are the wines that have made every edition of Quaff and so are the most consistent quaffing wines in the country. There are two Stand-out wines: Banrock Station 'Reserve' Sparkling Shiraz and Penfolds 'Club Reserve' Classic Tawny. These have been the best in their category (or close to it) in every edition of Quaff and have always been rated 'Bloody Good'.
In this year's Quaff tasting, we had a stunningly good bracket of fortifieds - most it must be said were over the $15 mark. However, there's enough there at the Quaff price points to delight. When the wines were revealed three of the best were Penfolds Club Reserve Aged Tawny, Penfolds Club Reserve Classic Tawny and Penfolds Club Tawny. The first two received the same points and had remarkably similar tasting notes. It turns out that Penfolds have changed the name of the Club Reserve - although you won't realise that from looking at their website. The marketing issue aside, these are fantastic wines at incredible prices. As they always have, they shone in the blind tasting for Quaff.
The Penfolds Club Reserve Classic Tawny is made from shiraz, grenache and mourvedre sourced from different South Australian regions and fortified to 18°. Penfolds have been making this since 1985. It has great depth, length and intensity than the Club Tawny, opulent toffee, caramel and butterscotch flavours, some fascinating complexity, plush texture and a balanced finish. The family fortified specialists, my step-daughter Carmel and her husband GK polished off the rest of the bottle far too quickly. The reaction of six month old Naomi has not been passed on to me.
The Club Port is almost as good and likewise fantastic value.
Rating: Bloody Good
Cost: $ 14.95
Wide availability in all Australian states. www.penfolds.com
Reviewed: 24 July 2009
Penfolds, tawny in Bloody Good 
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