A still from the short film Edifice, 2018, by Ash Thorp, a digital artist based in San Diego, California. Thorp’s works are frequently complex interplays and redesigns of human anatomy. His works have featured in Batman, 2022, and The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014, while his interdisciplinary initiatives feature collaborations with brands such as Richard Mille

We might take perfect care of ourselves – exercising body and soul, eating carefully and mindfully – but our bodies might have other ideas. Now the latest technology means we can literally see inside ourselves for diagnostic purposes with astonishing accuracy. Dare we take a look? One LUX editor did…

When I first started collecting cars, I asked a wise and experienced collector friend where I should get them serviced.

The choice was between franchised official dealers of these prestigious car brands, with their glossy, shiny showrooms, which, however, might lack detailed knowledge about the older cars I was acquiring; or specialist service shops often located in remote and inaccessible places, which might have more knowledge and expertise on classic models.

“If you want a quick look round, a thumbs up and a certificate, go to the official dealers,” my friend said. “If you really want to know what’s wrong, and what might go wrong that you can prevent, go to the specialist.”

I am not, in any way, comparing myself to a classic car (or not in so many ways), but this was an analogy that came to mind when I decided to go through a health check recently.

Humans are even more complicated than classic cars (although it may not seem so at times, if you own one). And while there are many things that can go wrong with us, we might be tempted not to worry about them until they happen.

Unfortunately, when these hidden conditions finally manifest themselves, they can have sudden, catastrophic, tragic results. Think of the unspotted tumours that have metastasised, or the almost completely obstructed blood vessel in a marathon runner that goes unspotted until they drop down dead one day.

Until recently, the technologies simply did not exist to diagnose thoroughly and preventively with a large degree of accuracy. Scans would miss things and pick up worrying false positives. So I was interested to read about the latest CT and MRI imaging technology, which allows highly accurate scans of every key part of the body.

Consulting medical friends, I was told by this usually cynical crowd that, yes, these could be extremely helpful, but with two caveats. First, CT involves radiation, so you don’t want to get this done too often. And second, it’s all about the interpretation of the results: you need somebody looking at each scan who specialises in the relevant part of the body and has done it thousands of times before, so they can interpret through experience.

A certain shape on the spleen does not necessarily mean the same thing as a certain shape on the liver. Or something like that. Then there’s the convenience factor. Who has time to make, understand and fulfil the multiple appointments required in different practices at different times to cover the body from scalp to toenail? The wrong type of mole on either could kill you just as effectively as a blocked aorta.

And then there’s receiving and making sense of the results. Doctor friends profess it’s all too much for them, even though they know preventive healthcare could save their life.

Enter Echelon, a central London-based company offering a one-day service that covers every imaginable test in one location, plus interpretation by specialists and delivery of results by one single medical director.

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Like having someone from the factory that built your car tell you what’s wrong with it. Or nearly. I took the plunge and enlisted for Echelon’s Platinum Assessment.

It involves MRIs, CTs and ultrasounds covering every conceivable body part – including a noninvasive scan of the bowel, a relief as the other way (a rectally entered camera) is not pleasant.

The in Harley Street located clinic, houses a suite of advanced equipment and is staffed with a number of radiographers and radiologists

There would also be a suite of blood tests and physical examinations of moles and anything else that needed investigating, all by relevant specialists.

Read more: Marcus Eriksen on keeping our oceans healthy

After booking myself in over the phone, I had a chat on Teams with an efficient coordinator who took some details, sent me a form online and said she would welcome me at 8am on an agreed date at the clinic in Harley Street, central London.

There was some preparatory work to do the previous day (fasting and ingesting a bitter liquid), but otherwise the convenience factor was supreme. The most remarkable thing about that day is that it didn’t seem remarkable at all.

What would otherwise have been 10 or 12 different appointments – at different clinics, on different dates and times with different specialists, the usual travel to and from, the waiting times and different results delivered on varying dates – all happened seamlessly in the space of a few hours.

Each appointment followed the last with perfect timing, even when we travelled between Harley Street buildings and separate specialisms. There was no waiting, I was accompanied at all times by my hyper-efficient coordinator who knew everyone and had them all responding to her instructions.

Read more: Zahida Fizza Kabir on why philanthropy needs programmes to achieve systemic change

The only time I sat down with nothing to do was at the end, when I was given a recovery suite and my chosen lunch of sushi, before I headed back to the office.

A week later, I met Medical Director Dr Paul Jenkins to go through the results. Each had been interpreted by a consultant in that field, and then reinterpreted by him.

I was fine, but that’s not the point: any one test could have found a potential killer lurking in some part of my body that I would have no idea about: a cancer, a disease of an internal organ, calcification of the cardiac arteries, abnormalities of the lungs.

The clinic offers health assessments packages including full body mole screens, digital mammograms, blood tests, ECG, CTs, MRIs and ultrasounds of all colours and creeds

Dr Jenkins said such discoveries were quite common, and, in each case, discovering it earlier was far preferable to waiting until it manifested itself. So, for less than the price of a secondhand city car, which would you prefer: to bury your head in the sand until, potentially, it’s too late; or to know whether there’s a potential catastrophic engine failure inside your body that you can avoid and treat? Seems like a no-brainer.

The modern health assessment, by Dr Paul Jenkins

“We all accept the concept that prevention is better than cure for so many aspects of our lives, yet so many people ignore this in relation to their most valuable possession – their health.

I have seen the devastating consequences of this approach so often and the desperate attempts to repair the damage when it is sadly too late. Now, modern imaging technology (CT, MRI and ultrasound scans) allows us to see inside the body in incredible detail and to detect the very earliest stages of so many diseases that, if left, would progress to cause serious ill health or death.

Echelon Health Founder and Director Dr. Paul Jenkins ensures clients are equipped with a detailed health analysis and a plan for future healthcare

Undergoing a three-yearly, high-quality preventive health assessment should be a routine for everyone over the age of 50. It amounts to a modest monthly cost that, for many people, is a small price for the life assurance it brings, along with enormous peace of mind”.

Dr Paul Jenkins is a Consultant Physician and Medical Director at Echelon Health, London 

www.echelon.health

ashthorp.art

Boutique hotel La Fiermontina Luxury Home is an homage to Antonia Fiermonte and the two artists who loved her. The garden shares its ancient city walls with Lecce

Lecce, the most celebrated city in Puglia, comes at you unexpectedly, like many of Italy’s gems. You drive past vineyards and olive groves, go through some unremarkable suburbs and then suddenly you are faced with a wall and gate of Roman origin. Once inside, the streets shrink and are cobbled; but what looks like a cluster of ancient buildings also houses more treasures within.

One of these is La Fiermontina Luxury Home, the city’s most celebrated hotel, set around a garden and olive grove within the ancient walls. The owners have just opened a new property, the Fiermonte Museum, 50 metres away down a quiet cobbled street.

All rooms and suites of La Fiermontina Luxury Home are inspired by traditional local buildings and are full of character, decorated with vintage and high-end antique pieces

Turn  right at the old lady who spends her days sewing, sitting on a chair on the cobbles, through a latticed iron gate, and you enter into a bijou courtyard, surrounded by lush trees – you could pick your own loquats certain times of the year.

Under a newly built staircase – the whole construction is new out of old sit two sculptures, and the art theme continues when you walk through the first floor terrace and slide the glass doors open, to be greeted by an array of sculptures and paintings.

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Our room had high, vaulted ceilings, showcase artworks and furnishings – the Fiermontina team are masters at creating contemporary art and design elegance out of historic landmarks.

The artworks around La Fiermontina Luxury Home are part of the carefully selected collection, and the architecture tells a story of the family’s ancestors and the country’s history

The Suite Nocturne of the Fiermonte Museum is covered in blue tones and music-themed

Ceilings and curtains were a deep blue, the window looking out onto a lush tropical treescape (all this within the old town). It was utterly peaceful, silent both at night and during the way, yet a couple of minutes stroll along the cobbles takes you into the heart of the old town.

Read more: Artists In Conversation: Michelangelo Pistoletto and Pascale Marthine Tayou with Maryam Eisler

The Fiermonte Museum consists of works from the Fiermonte family’s private collection, taking visitors on a kaleidoscopic journey through 20th-century art

This really is a Museum with rooms: you are given tickets, key card access and a lantern so you can access the museum in the same building at night. And then have breakfast in the courtyard, with an utterly bijou buffet served by your own staff – it feels like staying in a private home, more than a hotel.

We had dinner on our last night at the Zephyr restaurant.

www.lafiermontinacollection.com

In our latest print issue we covered the preview week of the world’s most celebrated art biennale, which brought artists, collectors, institutional leaders, philanthropists, curators and the merely curious for a whirlwind of parties across the ancient city. All photographed by Darius Sanai using a vintage Nikon Coolpix ultra-compact

Esben Weile Kjaer and Lucca Hue-Williams

Maria Sukkar and Emin Mammadov

Maryam Eisler

Yana Peel

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Eun-Me Ahn and Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

Darius Sanai and Ralph Rugoff

Yamini Mehta and Nada Raza

Durjoy Rahman and Vinita Agarwal

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Samantha Welsh, Jessica Hartley and Lee Sharrock

Carolina Conforti, François-Laurent Renet and Hamlet the dog

Shaan Shahani

Read more: Armando Testa at the Venice Biennale 2024

Nick Chu and Marton Nemes

Read more: Artists In Conversation: Michelangelo Pistoletto and Pascale Marthine Tayou with Maryam Eisler

Oli Epp and Javier Martinez

Stefanie Sauska and Julia Mechtler

Bernardo Pereira and Djoser Botelho Braz

Ana Helena Pires, Sandra Hegedus, Maguy Etlin and Vanessa Tubino

Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and Laure Martin

Roman Schramm, Petroc Sesti, Emilie Pugh and Tracey Ryans

Glicéria Tupinambá

Nadja Romain

Masha Nosova, Fabienne Amez-Droz, Isabella Fergusson

The original Cullinan, launched in 2018, was the world’s first super-luxury SUV. The new Cullinan Series II adapts to changes in codes of luxury

More than half a decade after the launch of Rolls-Royce’s original Cullinan, the Cullinan Series II has unveiled in Ibiza. Codes of luxury have changed. And so has the model’s design, engine and character. Fabienne Amez-Droz takes a spin

Think a cross between a sky-scraper, a boat, and a (strangely civilised) wild boar. The Cullinan Series II is an animal with all the hallmarks of a Rolls-Royce classic. It flaunts a handsome large snout, crisp edges and clean geometry. Its muscles, though lean, seem somehow monolithic.

When Cullinan was first launched, less than 70% were self-driven: today, almost every Cullinan is driven by its owner

A versatile 6.75 litre V12 engine provides agility. While it could handle Ibiza’s coastal roads and narrow village streets with ease, it was unable to begin to flex its muscles, under the tame Ibiza sun. It’s wilder capabilities include off-road handling, equal to the most dangerous and hostile environments. I couldn’t say I was complaining.

The bumper lines form a shallow ‘V’ from the lowest point of the daytime running lights to the motor car’s centre point, recalling the sharp bow lines of modern sports yachts

Calmer drives between lunches and dinners, across the island and from the Six Senses Hotel, to a private dinner hosted by the Rolls-Royce team in the villa of the six senses owner, were more to my preference. As was the coastal path to Casa Jondal, the beachside restaurant serving laid-back luxury not dissimilar to the backseat of a Cullinan Series II. Naturally, a bottle of champagne, out of the champagne compartment, pairing perfectly with view of the horizon.

Reflecting clients’ desires for bolder forms of self-expression, new decoration and detail have been added throughout the interior of Cullinan Series II

But let’s hop from the backseat to the front. Codes of luxury have changed. People are starting to drive their own cars. Back in 2018, at the launch of the first Cullinan, less than 70% were self-driven; today less than 10% of clients retain the services of a chauffeur, and the average age of Rolls-Royce clients has dropped from 56 in 2010 to 43 today. And the Cullinan Series II reflects this. As Anders Warming, Director of Design for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the ‘statement and flourish’ built in this second series is undeniable.

Adapting to the desire of many clients to escape into nature, the interior is comprised of a palette inspired by botanicals. Cullinan Series II introduces Grey Stained Ash, a richly grained natural open-pore wood with a light shimmer

Flourish is the word. A pattern on them – reportedly evoking clouds – is suggestive, too, of something hovering between Japanese ink drawing, khaki, botanicals and cartography. Quite a range, but then so are Rolls-Royce’s design inspirations, from nautical to architectural matter. Oh, and with 107,000 individual perforations into the leather to create them, because why not?

This is a modern-vintage nexus that Rolls-Royce has harnessed for its newfound younger generation of customers. See its classically geometrical, Art-Deco style wheels, for instance: one feels one might just see Jay Gatsby through the rear-view mirror, but then spot Daniel Craig in the side-view one.

The new Spirit of Ecstasy Clock Cabinet is set inside a vitrine that displays both an analogue timepiece and an up-lit Spirit of Ecstasy figurine. The figurine is constructed from solid stainless steel and placed on her own stage with a matte black back panel

If craft is all the rage at the moment, Rolls-Royce are not new to the game. After four years of development, Rolls-Royce’s trademark Spirit of Ecstasy sits not only on its bonnet but inside the car, lit up and enhanced. And it even shapeshifts to become a technological item ­– ‘SPIRIT’ – a digital interface linking to a private members app, Whispers. The minds of analogue and digital craftspeople are meticulously stitched together, unsurprisingly well. And at the unsurprising price of not far off half a million pounds. Why compromise on craft?

Read more: Rolls-Royce launches new Boat Tail at Lake Como 

Fitting it is to have unveiled this car at the Six Senses hotel ­– aptly-named in relation to a car with the instinct and power of a wild boar, and the grace of a mercurial, siren-like Spirit of Ecstasy. To borrow the CEO’s phrase, let ‘magic carpet ride’ begin.

www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

The Hato Restaurant is located in the heart of St. Moritz village, only a few minutes walk away from the well-known Badrutts Palace

In the heart of St Moritz, Hato is all about people watching, inside and out, DJ vibes, and some vibrant pan-Asian cuisine to match anything in Mayfair, as LUX discovers

Slip into a window table at Hato and you have a ringside seat of the high-rolling circus that is St Moritz in season. A slick, dark, club-bar of a restaurant, Hato is right in the heart of the village, slightly elevated from the street, so you can look out, chilling to the DJ tunes, and spot exactly who is in town with which of their lovers/dogs/families.

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The cuisine is Fine Asian and the menu references the Head Chef’s previous role at Sexy Fish in London, but that doesn’t really do justice to Hato: this is much more refined than Sexy Fish, both in concept and execution.

The restaurant with views on the lake of St. Moritz serves fine asian cuisine dishes that are displayed in a very extravagant style

Our Som Tam salad – not jam, coriander, green papaya, carrots, red onion and iceberg – was a dish surely never served before in St Moritz, and had a delicious vibrancy, matched well with our other sharing starter of steamed aubergine with chilli and coriander.

Read More: Roia’s fine-dining in Singapore’s Botanics

Hato started quiet that evening but quite late, as our mains arrived, troupes of young St Moritzians waltzed in, evidently familiar with the place, laughing, jogging over to their regular tables, chatting in the multilingual Esperanto of English, Italian, French and German that is the trademark of the Engadine.

Established in 2015, Hato is known for it’s range of asian foods, from rock shrimp tempura to Hamachi, a new style of yuzu truffle

Next up was handmade dim sum, which we had chosen over tempura, which seems to be everywhere these days. The siu mai and har gau were sufficiently al dente and definite, but it was the spinach and mushroom that caused delectations, likely due to the clarity of the local ingredients.

A main of black cod was originally, and highly successfully, served with saikio miso, truffle yuzu and fennel but the real standout of the whole meal was the whole butterfly seabass, with Thai spices. Zingy, buttery, thought provoking.

Grilled miso chicken, sashimi, nigiri, maki, handmade dim sum with ponzu sauce, shiitake mushrooms, tuna takaky: one doesn’t lack choice at HATO

We’re not sure if people go to Hato for the food or the vibe – both are high up the scale – or to spot their ex walking with someone new down below, to which the only answer is another bottle of Dom Perignon.

www.hato-restaurants.com

The Japanese restaurant Shogun in Zermatt offers sushi, and many other Japanese specialties such as ramen

Zermatt, the celebrated Swiss ski and mountain resort, has a little-known but powerful connection with Japan. Nowhere better to experience it than at Shogun, a properly authentic Japanese in the village centre

A perhaps little known fact about the high Alps is the Japanese connection. Zermatt, cradled by a ring of the most spectacular 4000m peaks in Europe, has a long-term connection with Japanese mountaineers who, like the English, were among the early-adopter climbers of peaks like the Matterhorn and (even more imposing, if less famous) Weisshorn. A significant number of Alpine books available in the village’s bookstores were authored or photographed by established Japanese climbers.

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In that context, it is not surprising that Zermatt has a Japanese restaurant which is quite different in feel from the current trend for Asian-fusion.

Walking into Shogun, you feel like you are entering an eatery in Hokkaido, the mountain and ski island of Japan: through a little garden and up some steps, everything is Zen, simple, wooden, careful, thoughtful.

Shogun prepares the Japanese food freshly and sells it at moderate prices

Menus are bilingual, also in Japanese. We chose a set menu, which featured a stunning, tastebud-reviving hamachi carpaccio with jalapeños, red onion, ponzu sauce and sesame oil, Swiss grilled beef which was tender, simple, almost liquid, and a yuzu cheesecake.

Read more: Mandarin Oriental, Zurich review

From the à la carte we had spicy tuna tartare, topped with quail’s egg, tori kaarage (chicken with soy, ginger and garlic), and grilled scallops and white fish with grilled vegetables.

Next to eating in the restaurant, you can also get the dishes delivered or you can get it at their take away station

A combination of quality of ingredients and care and craft of execution made the food utterly standout, even for someone used to eating at the world’s great Japanese restaurants.

The purity may come as a surprise to a generation reared on the easy-listening Japanese of Asian fusion restaurants, but Zermatt is, at heart, all about purity. Memorable for all the right reasons.

The two japanese chefs import the rice that they are using for the dishes directly from Japan

See More:

shogun-japan-restaurant-zermatt.ch

Switzerland: an effective place to do business, according to Javad Marandi

Javad Marandi is an international entrepreneur and philanthropist with investments in the UK and continental Europe. Here Marandi describes his work in Switzerland and how the nation retains investment appeal, and outlines his foundation’s philanthropic work in the UK

Javad Marandi is an eclectic international entrepreneur, based in London and Switzerland, with interests around the continent. Marandi focuses on hotels, commercial real estate, fast-growing retail companies, and blue chip companies in the manufacturing sector.

The Marandi Foundation, which he runs together with his wife Narmina, is a significant donor to one of the UK’s most prominent homelessness charities. A UK chartered accountant by training, Marandi is also known as a successful second-tier investor in fast-growing British fashion retailers and is the owner of Soho House group’s Soho Farmhouse hotel in Oxfordshire, England.

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Entrepreneur and philanthropist Javad Marandi was born in Iran and is now based in Europe

Key fact bio: Javad Marandi
Born: January 1968, Tehran, Iran
Education: Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Chartered Accountant
Lives: London and Switzerland
Nationality: British
Married to: Narmina Marandi, nee Narmina Alizadeh, daughter of Ali Alizadeh, a prominent oncologist in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Children: 3
Investment strategy: Looking for growth sectors within the more mature stable markets of Western Europe in the small to medium sized industries.

Investing in Switzerland

LUX: Which sectors did you choose to invest in, in Switzerland?

Javad Marandi: I am a major investor in one of the country’s best-regarded manufacturing companies. I also co-own commercial warehouses.

LUX: What attracts you about Switzerland as a place to invest?

JM: The country is renowned for its highly qualified workforce, excellent education, apprenticeship and training schemes and high-quality infrastructure. Its location at the heart of Europe means it will always be a commercial crossroads, and the highly developed nature of its economy mitigates risk. All of this makes it an attractive environment for the investor.

LUX: How closely correlated is the growth of your investments with the Swiss economy?

JM: Annual GDP growth in the country since 2010 has been between 1 and 3 per cent, in line with my expectations. Growth has slowed a little in the last year, but Switzerland is a mature, low-risk market and there are plenty of opportunities to grow our investments there regardless of the macroeconomic situation. Having said that, the overall economic climate is very positive.

LUX: Has the slowdown in other European countries affected your Swiss businesses?

JM: The sectors we invest in are not highly exposed to economic developments in the rest of the EU. The construction manufacturing business is focused on the Swiss market. The commercial real estate is located in the north of the country on the transport infrastructure hub and yields are exactly as projected by the executives of the businesses.

LUX: How has your construction manufacturing business performed over the past five years?

JM: It has seen compound annual growth of over 5% in both our turnover and EBITDA. This is extremely satisfying performance given the backdrop of the appreciating Swiss currency and the Country’s GDP growth. There are plenty of opportunities to preserve and grow investments in the country.

Switzerland: an effective place to do business, according to Javad Marandi

LUX: Has the recent appreciation of the Swiss Franc affected your investments?

JM: The tourism sector has been affected, as have manufacturers that rely on exports. My investments have not been adversely affected. I think the independence of the Swiss Franc is a positive for the investment climate.

Read more: Zahida Fizza Kabir on why philanthropy needs programmes to achieve systemic change

LUX: Do you personally enjoy visiting the country?

JM: I have visited Switzerland frequently over the past 20 years both for leisure and business. My first job was a multinational company near Geneva. I am first and foremost, a family man and the children, my wife and I love the mountains and the skiing! The investment climate down on the plateau, where my investments are based, is a contrast to the chocolate box image of the high mountains. The Swiss are sophisticated, cosmopolitan people who have been trading with their immediate neighbouring countries for centuries. They are multilingual and very adept at dealing with investors from all over the world.

LUX: Do you have any further plans for investment in the country?

JM: We are continually assessing potential investments in Switzerland and all over Europe, to complement our existing portfolio. However we base our decisions an analysis of potential return, rather than focussing on any specific country.

Philanthropy in the UK

LUX: The Marandi Foundation, which you created together with your wife Narmina, has committed to donate £1m to Centrepoint, a UK charity focussed on youth homelessness.

JM: Youth homelessness is an increasingly urgent issue across the world. If young people are homeless, through no fault of their own, as well as the obvious misery and physical and mental risk, they lack access to education, training, and opportunity and risk being “lost lives”.

Read more: YCAB’S Veronica Colondam on bringing hope and change to Indonesia’s youth through social entrepreneurship

LUX: You have said you would like to focus on four strands at Centrepoint: education and training, the refugee bursary programme, the apprenticeship academy, and the development of an online platform.

JM: It is important to provide young people with the opportunity to gain accredited qualifications and provided with support to find and secure employment opportunities. Young people who are refugees often need language and legal support, help locating their families, as well as education and training so they have a real chance to live happy lives and make contributions to society.

The Centrepoint Apprenticeship Academy is being developed to support young people with a diverse number of vocational routes for them to explore. The app and web portal will connect educators and employers with young people seeking opportunities and help develop a joined-up system.

Javad Marandi sold his stake in the Swiss construction manufacturing business in early 2021

www.themarandifoundation.org

centrepoint.org.uk

Penfolds creates wine from multiple vineyard sites

Think of the world’s great historic wine countries, and you might think of France, or possibly Italy or Germany. Yet one fine wine brand celebrating its 180^th anniversary this year hails from the other side of the planet. Penfolds, maker of iconic wines like Grange and Yattarna, prized by collectors around the world, was founded in South Australia at a time when King Louis Phillipe I ruled over France. Penfolds was founded a few months after vulnerable and celebrated champagne house Krug was created on the other side of the world – giving it the status of effectively being an Old World estate from the New World. Nearly two centuries later, Penfolds produces great wines from France, and the US, as well as its native Australia. Here, we take a look back through the archive of the world’s most innovative luxury wine brand

Penfolds was formed around the same time as the Krug champagne house on the other side of the world, at a time when the Habsburgs ruled much of Europe, Queen Victoria was in the early days of her reign, and China was ruled by the sixth Qing emperor. Back in 1844 and for the years after, Penfolds became known for producing high quality brandy (in rather beautiful bottles, shown here); the length of its heritage adds to its status as effectively an old world wine house from the new world.

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A classic car even the LUX car collector community may not have seen before, the Penfolds bottle cars made up in style what they lacked in high performance. They operated during the 1930s and 40s to promote Penfolds.

Used as delivery vehicles, they were often seen at Royal Shows and leading vintage processions. Penfolds Magill Estate in South Australia has a small-scale working replica and meanwhile Ferrari might be seen to have (inadvertently) produced its own tribute with the collector-only single seater SP1.

This ad from the 1930s shows the craft of grape harvesting – very much on trend 180 years later – and features a strapline which has remained a constant in Penfolds literature throughout the decades since – 1844 to Evermore. For a New World wine company with global reach, reminding its collectors and consumers that it has a history longer than many fashionable estates in the Old World, has been a constant.

The community and sustainable development element, now so important in many companies’ ESG programming, has also been a constant and in 2024, its 180th anniversary year, Penfolds launched a new sustainability programme entitled Penfolds Evermore, which includes a global grant program that will see the brand donate $1 million AUD over the next 5 years to support local community initiatives around the world.

Age is an enduring and essential piece of messaging in the fine wine world. Better wines become better with age; old vines produce better grapes; and age is also a component of heritage. All of this is alluded to in this Penfolds advert which appeared in the Australian newspaper, in 1934.

The picture on the wall in this ad creative is in fact a Penfolds ad itself, featuring a well-known New Zealand-born champion thoroughbred racehorse in Australia called Phar Lap, whose trainer was a friend of Leslie Penfold-Hyland. The inclusion of the decanter, as well as allowing the play on words, also suggests Penfolds wines need to be decanted – either because they are complex and need aerating, or because they can be aged a long time and throw a sediment, which needs decanting out.

White Burgundy, Claret, Chablis – all are French wine types from specific regions. Back in the 1960s, global wine companies were allowed to use them to describe wine styles from elsewhere. Not only is this forbidden now; a company like Penfolds has more than enough of its own identity not to need to need the allusions. Seeing this advertising now made us wonder, though: Penfolds Yattarna Bin 144, its flagship Chardonnay, is made from the same grape used in white Burgundy and Chablis.

Does it taste like either? Our view is that it has an intensity and complexity of its own, while retaining the freshness of the top French Chardonnays from areas like Chassagne-Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne.

Read more: A tasting of 31 years of Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the rarest and most sought-after wines in the world, Penfolds Bin 60A 1962 is considered by many to be the finest Australian wine ever made. Decanter magazine named it as as one of its top 10 wines to try before you die in 2004.

Made by legendary Chief Winemaker at the time, Max Schubert, who had previously created Penfolds iconic Grange in 1951, 1962 Bin 60A is a blend of two-thirds Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and one-third Barossa Shiraz. The wine was never commercially released and is now among the rarest and most sought-after wines in the world.

Sitting alongside Grange in the upper echelons of the Penfolds portfolio is St Henri. Originally made by a Frenchman, Léon Edmund Mazure, in the 19th century at the Auldana winery, which neighboured Penfolds Magill Estate in Adelaide, Penfolds bought the property in 1944, and in the 1950s, while winemaker Max Schubert was busy creating a Bordeaux-esque wine which would go on to become the legendary Grange, another winemaker at Penfolds, John Davoren, re-created the original Auldana style, using the historic name, St Henri. Regarded as a wine with spectacular ageing potential, St Henri is a collectors’ item beloved of many wine critics around the globe.

Read more: Travelling Botswana on Eco-safari, Review

Penfolds is the most imaginative and thoughtful fine wine company in the world – without any doubt. Nobody else makes wines at the top level from the US, France and Australia, including blends from these countries, and nobody else pushes the boundaries while retaining the highest quality.

To evolve while keeping icons (like Penfolds Grange) at its heart is a challenge: all the remarkable given that there have only ever been four Chief Winemakers at the helm of Penfolds – Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago; Gago himself has been in charge for 22 years. There’s no complacency here, and a fascinating desire to keep creating something new, while retaining the respect and acclaim of the fine wine world.

www.penfolds.com

The Magill Estate, South Australia, home of Penfolds since 1844

One of the world’s great red wines comes, unusually, not from a hallowed single piece of land, but from an ever-varying blend of vineyards in South Australia. Penfolds Bin 707 has risen meteorically into the consciousness of wine collectors in the last couple of decades, renowned for its silken balance and depth. Darius Sanai meets Penfolds Senior Winemaker Steph Dutton over a tasting of vintages ranging from 1990 to 2021 to discover insights into a wine every connoisseur should be considering for their cellar, dining table – and home cinema

Wine connoisseurs seeking the world’s great Cabernet Sauvignons typically have two broad styles to explore. There are the old-world wines of Bordeaux, including great names like Chateau Lafite and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Cabernet-dominated red wine blends that are complex, often austere, and reserved; and the more exuberant, rich, sweeter style of Napa Valley Cabernet from California. To these (very broad generalisations), we can add a third: Bin 707, a Cabernet Sauvignon made in South Australia by the celebrated wine brand, Penfolds.

Bin 707 is distinctive as, like many Penfolds wines from Australia and elsewhere, it is not sourced from a particular estate or plot of land: instead, each year, the winemakers choose what they think are the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from around the region, that will work best in harmony with each other, and blend them to make Bin 707. (And in years when the grapes are not deemed good enough, the wine is not made at all).

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The wine has a typical Penfolds high-end class and style: immensely smooth, refined, sophisticated and balanced, without being overwhelming with any single element: neither too rich, nor austere, nor over fruity, nor bitingly tannic. And like all the world’s great wines, Bin 707s develop with age, adding layers and subtlety while retaining their essential character and soul.

But how do you create such a distinctive wine? Darius Sanai organised a conversation and tasting, over Zoom, with Steph Dutton, Penfolds winemaker, to find out more. Dutton outlines in her own words some background behind what is becoming one of the world’s legendary Cabernets; and as they taste through vintages, both Dutton and Sanai give their thoughts on each.

Steph Dutton conducted our tasting from the tasting room at Penfolds celebrated Magill estate in Australia

Steph Dutton, Penfolds Senior Winemaker, on Bin 707:

“Bin 707 has always led the charge for Cabernet, which here in Australia was a variety that took longer to find its feet compared to Shiraz. Yet Cabernet is still king in the fine wine world in terms of its nobility, its ageability, and this ability for Cabernet to tell a very long-lived story.

Bin 707 is now attaining a real cult following that has previously always been attached to Grange (Penfolds’ famous Shiraz). Our job as winemakers with a wine like Bin 707, which has been around since its inaugural release in 1964, is to honour the style that our predecessors have already carved out, but we should also still be making the 1% and 2% changes every year in the right direction in the name of excellence.

Whether it’s Grange or Bin 707 , the rule about selecting the fruit to go in the wine is that it doesn’t matter where it comes from, as long as it’s the best. And so as you go through warm vintages, cool vintages, and everything in between, the different regions are going to be represented at different percentages. It’s the best of the best from each vintage.”

Bin 707 has a distinctive and balanced style of its own, appealing to collectors of Cabernet Sauvignon around the world

Penfolds Bin 707 1990

Steph Dutton: 1990 is probably one of the most famous vintages in South Australia, so it was sort of the logical place to begin today. I will always be fascinated to know what the 1990 was like at the time, as I can’t time travel and go back and know what it looked like during vintage. With this wine, I like to say you can be the most intense voice in the room, but it doesn’t mean you’re the loudest voice in the room. And I think as wines age, the best examples do keep their intensity, but they become a little bit more subtle and less obvious. It’s almost like the components are retreating into themselves a little bit more, but they’re resolved.

Read more: Bettina Bryant on California’s Bryant Estate

Darius Sanai: Amazing nose, palette of colours, I want to have a Bistecca alla Fiorentina done medium. It’s got that wonderful structure to it, and I want rosemary on the steak. It’s not powerful, but it’s still full, not faded at all. If I had a case of this, I would last it out for another 20 years.

Penfolds publishes a guide to how each vintage of all of its great wines is maturing

Penfolds Bin 707 1998

SD: This is a big vintage in proportions. It is full of tannin and muscle. It should be incredibly fruit sweet. This is going to be one of your more obvious wines in the line-up. Looking at my own tasting notes, I speak about muscle, the grunt, the sinew, grainier tannins. I’ve spoken about a warmth that comes with the wine, you know, that chocolatey blackberry sort of warmth and comfort, sort of a generosity.

DS: Plenty of everything here, still incredibly refined though. Not overwhelming like some Napa Cabernets are, for example. There is plenty of fruit and tannin, but also a balance and smoothness, nothing jumps out at you too much, and it is incredibly fresh and moreish also. Just delicious. It also feels ageless: this is a wine that is 26 years old, but it could be 16 years old or six years old, with that layered balance. I would say that extra power in this one along with that freshness would make it match nicely with a chicken tajine, not too spicy, but with a little turmeric and allspice.

Penfolds Bin 707 2004

SD: This is a more elegant wine, like the 1990, while the 1998 is moodier and broodier. 2004 is a cooler climate vintage and we source fruit from different areas, depending on the vintage. The art of multi-regional blending gives you, a different skill set, but also something different that you’re offering your collectors and your loyalists. It’s a little bit like thinking of a choir with many voices, all singing together at one point in time, versus a solo artist. And our job as winemakers is probably, we don’t want to lose the solo artist in a choir, but we want the power and magic of the choir when it’s the best fit.

And so our job as winemakers is not only knowing when and how to blend, but also knowing when not to blend.

DS: Same style, like a sibling, very refined. Its layering is subtle but still distinctive. And it doesn’t taste anything remotely like 20 years old. I have had 2004 Bordeaux first growths that look and taste distinctly older than this.

SD: In the wine world, it’s a little bit like the real world. If you’re mistaken for a younger version, it’s the biggest compliment, because it means you’ve got a longer life ahead of you with wine. So to hear it looks more youthful than what it is, it’s the best thing you can say to a winemaker!

LUX tasted through six vintages of Penfolds Bin 707 at a country house in England’s Cotswolds, while speaking to Steph Dutton in South Australia

Penfolds Bin 707 2006

SD: This wine is more like a 10-year-old rather than a 20-year-old. It was from a drought year, but drought doesn’t mean it was hot, it just means it was dry. The wine is very tightly wound in the best kind of way. There’s a lot of untapped potential here being revealed.

DS: It has that youthful mouthpuckering tang but still that distinctive Bin 707 deliciousness.

SD: It has what I call that upfront fruit vibrancy and density. I think dried and cured meats with a vintage like this are lovely but also not overpowering. You know, when you think about bresaola as an example, or jamon iberico. If you go to a restaurant, bresaola is one of the best matches for aged cabernet that you can come across.

Penfolds Bin 707 2010

SD: 2010 was an incredibly strong vintage. It wasn’t the biggest of anything, but it was kind of the best of everything. Proportioned, rather than big.

DS: There are many, many layers here, but typical of this wine, it’s all very subtle and silky. It doesn’t demand your attention, like some famous Cabernets. If you wanted to, you could whiz through a bottle while watching Netflix with a sourdough pizza with nduja – there’s plenty of structure to match that spice – or you could sit with a fellow connoisseur and analyse it over water biscuits. It’s fascinating to have that dual character; with other great wines you tend to only be able to do one of those.

Penfolds Bin 707 2021

SD: Like 2010, 2021 was a fantastic vintage. You can taste that it is primary, bright, glossy, full of juiciness, very firm tannins. It’s like a little glimpse of a wine that’s in its infancy.

DS: That is the expert winemaker perspective… for me, it is dangerously drinkable now in 2024, considering that it will probably age as well as the 1990. There’s nothing forbidding about it, although it is certainly full of bright, rich colours. It’s one you could drink with a filet mignon, or sauteed chanterelle mushrooms on toast, and that would bring it out even more. But like all the others. it’s perfectly balanced, there’s nothing showy or overblown about it. You could drink it every day, as well as at Christmas.

www.penfolds.com