Cellar Favorite: 2011 Penfolds Chardonnay Yattarna

BY NEAL MARTIN | JULY 28, 2025

Peter Gago, Penfolds’ chief winemaker and raconteur/ambassador par excellence, recently visited London (and doubtless every capital city in the world) to showcase Penfolds’ new releases. I’ll leave it to my colleague Angus Hughson to cover those, but one mature bottle made an impression. The 2011 Chardonnay Yattarna was poured from magnum. The fruit for this came from Tasmania and Adelaide Hills and was matured in French oak barriques, 64% new. Pale in colour, it delivers youthful, vibrant aromatics, with scents of lemon, almond and apricot and an underlying flintiness that might dupe you into thinking Europe rather than Australia. The palate does not disappoint, boasting impressive concentration matched by a crisp line of acidity. Eschewing the creamier style that was once synonymous with Australian Chardonnay, this Yattarna is linear and sapid, flecks of almond once again mixed with wild peach on the finish. At 14 years old, this will last far longer than the “2011 to 2020” drinking window advised by Penfolds themselves! 93/Drink 2025-2045.

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