Penfolds, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia 2018

This has a very expressive and intense feel with assertive, 100% new American oak, sitting in a bold, spicy layer with vanilla, bourbon and espresso notes, across the blueberries, blackcurrants and boysenberries. The palate has a very taut yet luscious delivery of rich plum and cranberry flavors. There’s such long and taut tannin and oak is driving this into tightly compressed shape with roasted-coffee tones to the very intense and long, ripe plums and black cherries. Powerful, commanding cabernet. This is a great Bin 707. Attractive now, but best to wait until 2025.

In case readers weren't aware, Bin 707 is always aged in new American oak, like Grange. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 features plenty of vanilla on the nose, backed by concentrated cassis fruit. It's full-bodied, velvety and richly tannic, clearly meant to have two decades or more) of longevity. Marked by ripe fruit, a notable lack of herbaceousness, and lavish oak, it's out of step with current trends in Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, but it's no less delicious and all the more unique for that.