Penfolds One 2021 Red Blend
We got this wine as a gift, but then the situation changed so now I'm drinking it. I have no exposure to the Penfolds winery, but they appear to be big in China? They're Australian and I know the Australian wine market is pretty big there. They have a lot of special very expensive wines that appear tailor made for guanxi bribes, but maybe they're just that good. Not sure why an Australian winery is making California wine, never a good sign, and indicates to me this may just be a farmed out product.
This particular wine is some sort of branded collab. Not sure. Who cares.
Nose is sweet, with some strawberry.
Tannins on the heavy side but they fade pretty quickly. Sour citrus, lemon, tart and sweet. Something weird and artificial going on, just a little too sweet. No real dominant flavors, I think they just mixed too many grapes together. I get a lot of Merlot and Zinfandel, but that's just a guess. It doesn't taste bad or anything, just very mediocre and uninteresting.
In general I find red blends go one of two ways. Either they're really good, and the vintner wants it to be a blend so they can achieve a certain flavor, or they're just a way to mix a bunch of excess swill together without needing to worry about what region it comes from. This feels like the latter, which is disappointing given the cost. Likely won't be exploring this brand any further.
NatScore: 2.5/5 Mediocre