Penley Estate Phoenix Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

When you’re the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Mary Penfold (yes, as in Penfolds!) you’ve got great wine making in the family blood!

Ang and Bec Tolley are two of the three women behind Penley Estate. The other is winemaker Kate Goodman, who’s got Wirra Wirra, Knappstein and Seppelt’s on her CV. Ang and Bec’s family tree has got more branches with wine connections than you can shake a stick at. Dad (Reginald) was of the Tolley wine making family while Mum (Judith) was of the Penfold Hyland family, whose connections go right back to the original Penfold founders, Christopher and Mary.

Then throw in the fact that Ang’s hubbie is David Paxton of Paxton wines in the McLaren Vale, and Bec’s partner is Mark Maxwell of Maxwell wines in the McLaren Vale. A family affair or what!

This is Penley’s Phoenix Cabernet from the Coonawarra. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a mythical legend and all that. No, not really. It’s actually named after the distillery bought by ancestors Doug and Frank Tolley back in the day. They thought the picture of the Phoenix looked cool though, so they went with that!

Coonawarra is best known for its great Cabernet and for the money this little fire bird is, well, smoking hot! It’s a big, dark, inky Cabernet full of spicy blackcurrant and berry flavours. Absolutely delicious and good to go 5-7 years from vintage.