“It was the first time for us to have enough grape material from the Coonawarra region and, thus, to be able to produce the BIN 169 exclusively out of grapes from this vineyard”, Peter Gago, responsible wine maker at the Penfolds company, said at the London International Wine Fair. The Penfolds company produced 12,000 bottles of the “BIN 169” and 108,000 bottles of Penfolds Grange.
The complexity of the BIN wines and their naming with numbers goes back to the system introduced by cellarer Max Schubert, who, in the 1950ies, numbered the barriques serially and called it “Bins”, where exquisite wines were stored. The first of those wines having been brought to market was the BIN 2” from 1962.
As is known, the prices for Penfolds wines are more at the high end. A Grange, for instance, costs 350 £ (438 euro), the price for the Yattana is at 85 £ (106 euro), the BIN 10A costs 60 £ (75 euro), for the RWT you have to pay 89 £ (111 euro), and for the Magill 78 £ (97 euro). The Bin 389, also known as “Grange of the poor man” is available at as few as 40 £ (50 euro), which the new “BIN 169” with a price of 165 £ (206 euro) clearly contrasts with.
Those prices, published by the Penfolds company last March, were harshly criticized by traders because there are jumps of 20 up to 50 percent. Peter Gago defended this price policy in London, saying: “We try to bring the prices for our Grange and our BIN series into tune all over the world in order to counter the trade on the grey market as well as the imponderabilities on the global market.” (red.yoopress)
