Interview with Peter Gago

It was something of a surprise to learn that the incumbent Penfolds Chief Winemaker, John Duval, was calling it a day, but then almost inevitable that his shoes would be filled by the affable, intelligent and articulate Peter Gago. Only the fourth individual to fill this job after Max Schubert, Don Ditter and John Duval, Gago has for several years represented a cheerfully low-key side to the Penfolds brand.

In fact, the next six months are likely to be the busiest of his life as he not only takes on the travel and promotional responsibilities associated with his new role, but completes the rather packed agenda he had accumulated in his previous position as Red Wine Oenologist, in which he was in considerable demand as an ambassador for his company and Australian wine.

An employee of Penfolds since 1989, he has focused on the company’s reds since 1993. He brings to his new role not only a thorough understanding and appreciation of what has made Penfolds reds so special for at least the past four decades, but an excitement for and understanding of what is happening around the world at wine’s cutting edge.

What are the greatest challenges of your new role?

The first might sounds trite, but to maintain what we’re currently doing at different quality levels, especially with the style of the top end wines. The idea is to optimise the best wines all the way through if possible, and to try to replicate some of the great wines, like the 1953 Grange, the 90A, etc. The second challenge is to continue the brand’s tradition of innovation and to look ahead. People look at Penfolds and say what a traditional style it is, but lots of new wines are being created all the time. For instance, over the last few years we’ve had the Clare Estate wines fall off one end, but have seen the emergence of RWT and Yattarna. I’m still involved in hand-making Adelaide Hills pinot noir at Magill – and we’ll be taking that wine into other restaurants than our own this year – and I’m still dabbling with sangiovese and tempranillo in an experimental sort of a New World approach.

Apart from eating out and travelling more, how will your day-to-day working life really change?

Over the last few years I’ve been filling in for John Duval when he hasn’t been able to attend events, so the transition has been a seamless one. Essentially my role within the Penfolds team of winemakers has gone from being one of the team to leading the team. We have a great collection of red wine and fortified specialists and combine young blood with people who have been with us for many years. There’s a genuine team feeling within Penfolds that you can feel when people like Don Ditter and John Bird come out of retirement and help us at tastings and recorking clinics. While we did lose some good people recently, the red wine team is essentially the same as before.

What, in your view is so special about the Penfolds philosophy of winemaking?

The other week in Asia we put on some tastings of reds over the last four decades. Not just Grange, but with a focus on wines like 389. Although we showed Granges from 1966, 1976, 1986 and 1996, the stars of the show were the 1966 St Henri and 1966 Bin 389. The older wines looked marvellous; the style we have preserves them beautifully. In some ways the competition we face in the market are the new kids on the block, for people enjoy trying something new and different. But when you want something really special and dependable, you go back to the old wines you really like, and that’s where Penfolds really excels.

Our technique of winemaking is tried and proven. We’ve expanded and refined, but we pretty well haven’t changed with the flagships. We’ve adopted some new technology, but the techniques we use are basically the same. The equipment may change, but the approach doesn’t. We dabble in post-fermentation maceration and at the top end to barrel fermentation at the close. We also rack and return. They’re not necessarily the best techniques in the world, but they work well for our styles.

Have you noticed a gradual change in style of Penfolds reds over the last two decades?

There have been gradual changes and refinements. Fruit sourcing is the major thing, since we are no longer restricted to vineyards in the Barossa and McLaren Vale, or from Paracombe and Morphett Vale. We even have new Barossa plantings. The Waltons vineyard behind Seppeltsfield is, dare I say it, possibly even better than Kalimna. We’ve also had access for material out of places like Bordertown for wines like Bin 407, vineyards that weren’t there twenty years ago, contributing new flavours.

Whereas twenty years ago grapes arrived in trucks, winemakers now spend as much time in vineyards as in their wineries. We pick on different ripening and do loads of batching, using lots of small tanks and other refinements. Sometimes people forget we do have a single vineyard wine in Magill Estate, and in Bin 128, RWT and the Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir we have single regional wines. Some reflect regional characters, others are still made to a certain style and structure, regardless of fruit source.

Will the 2001 reds reflect more traditional Penfolds styles than the 2000 releases?

2001 was a much better vintage. In 2000 we made no Bin 707 and made less Grange than we did for most of the 1960s. 2000 was a hard year for our premiums, and volumes are well down, but the 2001s look good. 2001 was the warmest year ever in South Australia, and 2002 was the coolest. You can’t plan for this, and these sorts of things do impact on flavour and structure. Hopefully we can dampen out some of the more extreme things.

Will Penfolds be seeking to increase the volumes made of its premium reds?

We’ve always had the pressure to make as much as possible at every level. We’d make more Grange if we could, but we’re definitely pursuing greater volume for Rawson’s Retreat. It’s a streetfighter of a label. Penfolds is a growing business and we’re planting vineyards all the time. We want to expand our vineyards at every level, but keep the safety mechanisms in place to underpin our quality. The classification system of blind tastings is still happening; no accountant gets within several kilometres of that room!

We have also launched in the US with huge success the Thomas Hyland range of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Chardonnay, which will be released in Australia later this year and in London this January. From a winemaking perspective it’s a safety buffer and will serve as a repository for the young vine fruit that isn’t yet up to the bin wines.

Long before the link with Rosemount, Penfolds has been operating a project to enhance our red winemaking facilities and storage in anticipation of making more red wine. We’ve been building towards bigger red wine volumes since the early 1990s. Please login to post comment