2018 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz
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Tasting notes
It's like rolling black river pebbles in your mouth. Dark and contemplative. More gravitas, more blue-moon mystery, more impenetrable than the 2016, but hauntingly beautiful. Luminous in a dark, moon-on-black-still-water kind of way. Blackberry fruit, fennel seed, black cardamom. Dry yet drenched with the sweetness of its fruit. A wine that tastes as if it’s peeling the midnight sky off rocks. (TC)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Deep violet color. Cherry-cola, cassis, pipe tobacco, coconut and cured tobacco on the highly perfumed, smoke- and spice-accented nose. Sappy and impressively concentrated, offering an array of red and dark fruit preserve and spice flavors and hints of licorice, mocha and candied flowers. Closes very long and gently chewy, with resonating spiciness and slowly building tannins that add subtle grip.
So luxurious! Exquisite black cherry and chocolate on the palate, stylish vanilla oak and buttery tannins. Finishes with the sweetest dryness possible, if that isn't too (oxy)moronic a thing to say. (RH)
Aged in 38% new oak. Lovely combination of flavours, with the cassis of Cabernet and the bramble of Shiraz getting on famously. Wrapped in delicious sweet oak scent which is tempered by bitter black-olive flavour and bright acid. Floral fragrance too, and super-fine tannins. A star of the range. (RH)
About the producer
Penfolds is Australia’s most famous wine producer, known best for their iconic top wine, Grange. First produced commercially in 1952, Grange has since gone on to become one of the world’s most famous fine wines. In 2001, the wine was listed as an Australian heritage icon.