When most people think of Penfolds, they think red. Grange, RWT, the Bins built on Shiraz and Cabernet - the wines that made the name and put Australian fine wine on the international map. That reputation is well-earned and not going anywhere.
But Penfolds has been making serious white wine for a long time, and if you've only ever paid attention to the reds, there are three bottles worth knowing about right now.
Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2024: the one they call Baby Yattarna
Penfolds' flagship white is Yattarna; a Chardonnay built from the finest cool-climate fruit in Australia, aged with the same precision applied to Grange, and priced to match. The Bin 311 sits directly beneath it in the hierarchy, and shares more DNA with Yattarna than the price difference suggests.
Fruit that doesn't make the Yattarna cut - due to volume, not quality - regularly finds its way into the 311. The source regions are the same: Tasmania, Tumbarumba in the Snowy Mountains, the Adelaide Hills. All high-altitude, all cool, all capable of producing Chardonnay with natural acidity and mineral precision that gives the wine both immediate appeal and genuine cellaring potential.
The 2024 vintage was matured for eight months in French oak barriques with around 18% new wood, enough to add texture without tipping into butter and vanilla territory. What you get is something more focused: lemon zest, white peach, a flinty mineral quality underpinned by bright acidity, and a finish that goes longer than the $50 price tag suggests. It picked up a Silver Medal at the Global Chardonnay Masters in 2024. It drinks well now and has the structure to develop over the next five to eight years.
It's the kind of wine that rewards people who think they know what Chardonnay tastes like, and then quietly changes their mind.
Buy Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2024 — $50
Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling 2025: Eden Valley, no detours
The Bin 51 is a different proposition entirely. Where the 311 is textured and layered, the 51 is a study in restraint. No oak. Stainless steel the whole way. Eden Valley Riesling done as cleanly and precisely as it can be done.
Eden Valley sits high in the Barossa Ranges - cooler and windier than the valley floor below, with soils that push the vine harder and produce grapes with greater concentration and natural acidity. It's one of Australia's best-established addresses for Riesling, consistently delivering wines that combine crisp citrus fruit with a steely, electric mineral quality that's hard to replicate elsewhere.
The 2025 is exactly that: lime zest, lemon blossom and green apple on the nose, a tight, focused palate driven by fresh acidity, a dry, clean finish. At 11.5% alcohol, it's one of those wines you can pour at lunch and not feel like you've made a commitment. It's a pleasure to drink now, and Riesling is one of the great cellaring whites - give it five years and the citrus will develop into something richer, while the acid backbone keeps it from going soft.
Buy Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2025 — $45
Penfolds Cellar Reserve Polish Hill Riesling 2025: the serious one
If the Bin 51 represents Eden Valley Riesling at its most accessible, the Cellar Reserve Polish Hill is where Penfolds takes the variety somewhere more serious.
Polish Hill River is a sub-region of the Clare Valley, about an hour and a half north of Adelaide. It produces Riesling of a markedly different character to Eden Valley; more angular, more tightly wound, more mineral-driven. The soils are slate and shale, and they show in the glass. This is a wine with structure and austerity in its youth, built for long-term development rather than immediate gratification.
The 2025 vintage opens with lime zest, lemon blossom and white florals, with a distinct wet-stone quality that signals where it comes from. On the palate it's precise and taut; lime juice, grapefruit, a fine chalky texture, and a saline mineral finish that lingers. It's a limited release, with the structural integrity to develop complex petrol and honey notes with a decade or more of careful cellaring. Penfolds has noted on the bottle that it's built to age through 2040.
At $50, it sits alongside the Bin 311 in price but represents a completely different reason to buy. This is a collector's wine, not a drink-tonight wine - though if you open it now with fresh oysters or a piece of grilled snapper, you won't regret it.
Buy Penfolds Cellar Reserve Polish Hill Riesling 2025 — $50
Three wines, one house, three different arguments
The Bin 311, Bin 51 and Polish Hill don't taste anything like each other. One is Chardonnay, two are Riesling, and even then, the two Rieslings make very different cases for the variety depending on where you stand on immediate pleasure versus long-term investment.
What they share is the Penfolds commitment to sourcing from the right places; high-altitude, cool-climate, site-specific, and not getting in the way of what those places produce. They're also among the better-value whites in the Penfolds portfolio. Wines made with real intention that cost considerably less than the name sometimes leads people to expect.
All three are available now at AlcVol, with free delivery Australia-wide on orders over $300 and same-day delivery across Sydney Metro for orders placed before 12pm.