Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay
Australia's flagship white – the "white Grange" – read across thirty vintages, from the record Penfolds itself keeps.
In short: Penfolds Yattarna Bin 144 Chardonnay is Penfolds' flagship white. Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 1995 was first vintage, released in 1998. Yattarna is blended from cool-climate regions rather than a single site, and has moved from Australian mainland sourcing to largely Tasmanian since 2006, and has grown lighter in alcohol along the way – without losing power. The standard has been high throughout, and exceptional since 2014.
Key facts:
First vintage 1995, first released 1998
Penfolds' flagship white; Chardonnay; "Bin 144"
Cool-climate, multi-region blend; Tasmania-dominant since ~2010, Coal River-led since 2018
Screwcap since the 2004
~12.5% alcohol in recent vintages, down from 13–13.5%
Recent standouts: 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024
Penfolds Yattarna Bin 144 Chardonnay is Penfolds' flagship white wine. It was launched in 1998 with the 1995 vintage, and is sourced from cool-climate vineyards across several Australian regions rather than a single site. I've tasted both the first 1995 Yattarna and the 1998 Yattarna, though neither in a context where I was writing notes; I've never tasted the 1996, 1997, or 1999 releases. I have, though, tasted every release since – 2000 to 2024 inclusive – as well as Penfolds Yattarna V Chardonnay on two occasions.
The lowest score I've given any Yattarna is 93 points, for the 2003, with an accompanying – and, to my palate, relatively short – drinking window. I've also awarded 95, 96 and 97-point scores over the years, which the best-vintages list below sets out. The standard of Yattarna has been, and is, remarkably high.
Of all the Penfolds wines, Grange has the best story and the most storied lineage, and it routinely lives the longest – which matters to collectors. But if I were starting a collection of a single Penfolds wine now, it would be Yattarna. Chardonnay is Australia's single greatest grape variety, and Yattarna is an epic example of the marque.
Why "Bin 144"
For a long time I only ever listed Yattarna as Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay. It is though a Bin wine. The bin number is a record of the trials. From 1992, across six vintages, the Penfolds winemaking team made and assessed more than one hundred experimental chardonnays – 144 of them in all – before deciding what Yattarna would be. The bin number is a memorial to that count.
The decision, to call it Bin 144, came on 8 November 1997, when the winemakers settled on three parcels of chardonnay, together designated Bin 144, to become the first Yattarna. The wine reached the public the following April: the 1995 vintage, launched in 1998, was described at the time as the most eagerly awaited wine release in Australian history. The name “Yattarna” is drawn from an indigenous language, and means "little by little, gradually" – which is exactly what the wine has done, in quality, ever since.
A Short Yattarna Timeline
1995 — The first Yattarna vintage.
1998 — First commercial release.
2004 — First release sealed under screwcap.
2006 — First release to feature Tasmanian fruit.
2024 — Price rises $45 – 25.7% – to $220.
Now — 22 vintages independently reviewed on The Winefront.
Every vintage of Yattarna, with Penfolds' own stated sourcing, alcohol and oak. The first seven vintages sit apart: the wine finding its feet, its sourcing restless, before Penfolds itself drew a line. The modern era runs from 2002 — the vintage from which current Rewards of Patience assessments now begin, the earliest releases having been set aside as past their best.
| Vintage | Regions | Alc. | Oak (new) | Seal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The early vintages – 1995 to 2001 | ||||
| 1995 | Cool-climate (regions unstated) | 13.0% | 100% new | cork |
| 1996 | Cool-climate (regions unstated) | 13.5% | 100% new | cork |
| 1997 | Adelaide Hills, Henty | 13.0% | 100% new | cork |
| 1998 | Cool-climate (regions unstated) | 13.5% | – | cork |
| 1999 | Multi-regional (incl. Piccadilly) | 13.2% | 80% new | cork |
| 2000 | Tumbarumba, Adelaide Hills | 13.0% | new & 1-y.o. | cork |
| 2001 | Tumbarumba, Adelaide Hills | 13.5% | 60% new | cork |
| The modern era – 2002 onward | ||||
| 2002 | Adelaide Hills (75%) , Tumbarumba (25%) | 13.5% | 55% new | cork |
| 2003 | Adelaide Hills (100% – Gumeracha 66%, Birdwood 34%) | 13.5% | 69% new | cork |
| 2004 | Henty (92%) , Adelaide Hills (8%) | 13.5% | no new oak | screwcap |
| 2005 | Adelaide Hills †| 13.3% | 55% new | screwcap |
| 2006 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 38%) , Adelaide Hills (36%) , Henty (26%) | 13.0% | 45% new | screwcap |
| 2007 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 49%) , Adelaide Hills (37%) , Henty (14%) | 13.0% | 35% new | screwcap |
| 2008 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 87%) , Adelaide Hills (13%) | 13.3% | 49% new | screwcap |
| 2009 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 50%) , Henty (43%) , Adelaide Hills (7%) | 12.7% | 40% new | screwcap |
| 2010 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 95%) , Adelaide Hills (5%) | 13.0% | 57% new | screwcap |
| 2011 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 96%) , Adelaide Hills (4%) | 13.0% | 64% new | screwcap |
| 2012 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 38%) , Henty (36%) , Adelaide Hills (26%) | 13.2% | 45% new | screwcap |
| 2013 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 90%) , Adelaide Hills (10%) | 12.5% | 62% new | screwcap |
| 2014 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 73%) , Adelaide Hills (27%) | 13.0% | 70% new | screwcap |
| 2015 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 84%) , Adelaide Hills (16%) | 13.0% | 65% new | screwcap |
| 2016 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 51%) , Henty (23%) , Adelaide Hills (14%) , Tumbarumba (12%) | 13.5% | 35% new | screwcap |
| 2017 | Tasmania (Derwent Valley, 44%) , Tumbarumba (40%) , Adelaide Hills (16%) | 13.0% | 50% new | screwcap |
| 2018 | Tasmania (72% – Coal River 30%, Tolpuddle 17%, Derwent Valley 10%) , Tumbarumba (22%) , Adelaide Hills (6%) | 13.0% | 60% new | screwcap |
| 2019 | Tasmania (57% – Bresnehan 42%, Rotherwood 14%) , Tumbarumba (32%) , Adelaide Hills (11%) | 12.5% | 55% new | screwcap |
| 2020 | Tasmania (68%) , Adelaide Hills (32%) | 12.5% | 86% new | screwcap |
| 2021 | Tasmania (81% – Coal River 71%, Derwent Valley 10%) , Tumbarumba (10%) , Adelaide Hills (9%) | 13.0% | 70% new | screwcap |
| 2022 | Tumbarumba (61%) , Tasmania (25% – Bresnehan) , Adelaide Hills (13%) | 12.5% | 44% new | screwcap |
| 2023 | Tumbarumba, Adelaide Hills, Tasmania | 12.5% | 60% new | screwcap |
| 2024 | Adelaide Hills, Tasmania , Tumbarumba | 12.5% | 56% new | screwcap |
From The Mainland To Tasmania – And From Derwent To Coal River
When you scroll through the list of regional sources for Yattarna, it's now overwhelmingly clear that Tasmania is this wine's dominant contributor. It wasn't always so, and it isn't always so.
For its first decade, Yattarna was a wine of the mainland. The Adelaide Hills sat at its centre; Tumbarumba in New South Wales and Henty in south-west Victoria filled out the blend. There is no Tasmania in Yattarna at all until 2006.
That vintage is the first hinge. Tasmania enters at 38%, and then – read the Derwent Valley figures down – it doesn't so much join the blend as annex it: 49% in 2007, 87% in 2008, and by 2010 and 2011 the wine is almost entirely Derwent Valley, at 95 and 96%. What began as a three-state blend had become, within five vintages, a Tasmanian wine with a splash of the Adelaide Hills.
Then a second, quieter shift, which almost nobody notes because it happens within Tasmania rather than between states. Through the late 2000s and early 2010s, "Tasmania" in Yattarna meant the Derwent Valley. From 2018 it means something else: Coal River, a different Tasmanian sub-region, which arrives at 30% that year and reaches 71% by 2021. Tolpuddle, Bresnehan and Rotherwood – vineyard names, not just regions – enter the record alongside it. So there are really two Tasmanian eras here, a Derwent era and a Coal River era. The wine crosses from one to the other around 2018.
The mainland never entirely leaves. Tumbarumba, a bit-player for years, was then again 40% in 2017, and an outright-leading 61% in 2022, the first modern vintage in which Tasmania is not the largest single component. Yattarna, like Grange, is built on the principle of: the best grapes, from wherever they are found.
There is one more line to draw across this history, and it falls at the same place. The 2004 was the first Yattarna sealed under screwcap. Every vintage since has followed. It is no coincidence that the wine Penfolds now dates its modern era from, and the wine that first abandoned cork, are one and the same: the screwcap is part of what "modern Yattarna" means. A white wine built for the cellar, sealed with a closure you can trust.
Lighter In Alcohol, Not In Power
Yattarna over the years has grown lighter in alcohol, but not in flavour, fruit or power. The wine has lost none of its intensity or its length; if anything the reverse. What has changed is the alcohol figure.
Yattarnas of the 2000s sat, as a rule, between 13 and 13.5% alcohol. The wines of the last several years sit at 12.5%. Five of the six vintages from 2019 to 2024 are stated at 12.5%; the last Yattarna above 13% was the 2016. It is a small shift in absolute terms and a telling one in intent – Yattarna is leaning further into tension, line and length while carrying the same or a similar weight of fruit.
Given the regional sourcing shifts outlined above – and that Tasmania, which now often dominates, didn’t appear in Yattarna until 2006 – it’s fair to now say that Yattarna spent its first decade deciding what it was, and has spent its second refining it.
Which Vintages To Seek
Penfolds Yattarna in its modern guise is a taut wire with a flock of beautiful birds perched upon it. Acidity is key, as is freshness, as is power, as is tension. The worst time to assess Yattarna is in its absolute youth – or, to be more direct, when it's first released. The early releases were criticised for being too upfront, too unlikely to cellar well. Over time Penfolds took that criticism, rightly, to heart, and made sure it can rarely be levelled again. Yattarna is "little by little, gradually" by name, and little by little, gradually in nature now. In its youth the acidity can feel sharp – or better said, the wine can come across more as a thing of theory than of outright practical pleasure. It took the 2011 vintage a long time to sort itself out, for instance – but by golly it got there in the not-yet-end.
I say this in full disclosure: many of my assessments of Yattarna are pre-release. In an ideal world I'd experience these wines more often after release, not before.
Before I single out favourites, imagine you knew nothing about Yattarna, but had the chance to pull one bottle to drink from the full run, 1995 to 2024. Your odds of landing on a great one between 1995 and 2009 would be far more hit-and-miss than for almost any vintage from 2010 on. The wines since 2010 have generally been better, and – more importantly – are built to live longer. Let me put it plainly: you can largely throw a blanket over the Yattarna releases of 2010 to 2024 in quality terms. That's anti-fine-wine in a way, since vintage variation is part of the fascination. But given Yattarna's multi-region sourcing, and chardonnay's broad success in Australia, it isn't surprising.
Now to be specific. I love the 2006, and have loved drinking it both young and with age. I loved the 2008 on release (95 points), and if anything have come to enjoy it more as it's aged. Pre-2010, those are the two I'd most single out.
The 2010 is a beauty, though its drinking window is likely starting to run out of runway. The 2011 only seems to get better with time, and is still just clearing its throat – going nowhere in a hurry. Of the 2012, on release, I wrote: "So very neat, so very opulent, like a luxurious bed with the linen pulled tight." I scored it 96 – the same mark I'd given the 2006 and 2011 on release.
Things get a bit ridiculous, in terms of monotonous excellence, from the 2014 onward. I have every release since 2014 as a standout – that's my official view. If I throw personal preference into it, I'd single out the 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2024. Even then I can't whittle it down much. Most importantly, I have long drinking windows – long, in chardonnay terms – on all of them. As the 2011 proves, 20-plus years of bottle age for Yattarna is now entirely possible, and probable.
A Note On The Sources
Two Penfolds sources sit behind the table above.
Most of the information for the above table was generated by downloading the individual (press) release of each vintage of Penfolds Yattarna, from the Penfolds website, and then distilling and collating. Figures and details were also checked against the ninth edition of The Rewards of Patience (Penfolds' own retrospective reference, wherever it gives them). The (press) release notes – written year by year, over three decades, by changing hands – are used where Rewards of Patience is silent. In cases where the two sources differ (slightly), I defer to the Rewards of Patience.
Yattarna On This Site
Yattarna Chardonnay 2024 – 97 points
Yattarna Chardonnay 2011 – Fourteen years on, 96 points
Yattarna V Chardonnay – five vintages, four states, outstanding quality
Yattarna on The Winefront
[Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 1998–2024]
I began researching this piece one afternoon [as I sat watching footy]. I compiled it though because this level of detail, and specifically its full regional composition, exists nowhere else, or not in one easy-to-digest place/table, and most especially not online. Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay is a flagship wine of Australia; the above is the true history of its factual details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Penfolds Yattarna? Penfolds' Bin 144 Chardonnay is Penfolds’ flagship white wine, launched in 1998 with the 1995 vintage. It's drawn from cool-climate vineyards across several Australian regions, and is often called Australia's "white Grange".
Why is it called Bin 144? From 1992, across six vintages, Penfolds made and assessed more than one hundred experimental chardonnays – 144 in all – before settling on the blend. The bin number records the number of trials. The Bin 144 name was decided on 8 November 1997.
What does "Yattarna" mean? It's drawn from an indigenous Australian language and means "little by little, gradually" – which is how the wine has grown in quality, and has tended to evolve, ever since.
Is Yattarna a Tasmanian wine? Not (at all) at first, but increasingly so. Tasmania first appeared in 2006 and now often dominates – the Derwent Valley early on, shifting to Coal River from 2018 – though the mainland still features, and Tumbarumba was the majority contributor to the 2022.
Which vintages are best? Consistently high, and especially so from 2010 on, with every release since 2014 a standout. Pre-2010, the 2006 and 2008; among recent vintages, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
When did it move to screwcap? The 2004 was the first under screwcap, and every vintage since has followed.
Penfolds is renowned for its “Special Releases”. Have there been any Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay “specials”? Yes. In March 2023 Penfolds released Penfolds Yattarna V Chardonnay, which was a blend of five Yattarna vintages: 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021.
