The One
A $700 California-Australia Wine Blend Aims for Icon Status
Mixing top grapes across hemispheres, this wine makes a bold bid for investment potential.
Photographer: Ryan Jenq for Bloomberg Businessweek
Australia’s most famous winery, Penfolds, likes to challenge preconceptions. When its multiregion Grange blend first appeared in the 1950s, it was viewed as radical (and undrinkable) but is now a collectible. This year the company introduced another iconoclast: the 2018 Penfolds Quantum Bin 98, a $700 wine that straddles hemispheres. The cabernet that makes up 87% of the blend comes from top Oakville and Diamond Mountain vineyards in Napa, and the remainder is shiraz from the best spots for old vines in South Australia.
THE COMPETITION