Penfolds, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, South Australia 2021

Having resisted the urge to supercharge Penfolds’ 180th-anniversary special release, the resulting wine is an outstanding example of heady flavours in perfect balance and harmony. Fruit selections from the outstanding 2021 Coonawarra vintage were very specific, with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from Block 10 and 43% Shiraz sourced from Block 5 on Penfolds’ Coonawarra vineyards.

The perfume is extraordinary, a heady lift of mulberry, cassis and red earth. The palate slides like a plush red velvet drape as the tingle of sharp Cabernet tannins carries the flavours through an extraordinarily long palate journey. While it’s immediately enticing, it’s also clear that its full glories won’t unfurl for years to come.

Drink 2024 - 2050

14.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

The 2021 Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz comprises 57% Cabernet Sauvignon from Penfolds Block 10 and 43% Shiraz from Block 5, planted in the 1960s, and both components matured in one-year-old French oak. The wine is powerful, concentrated and tannic but lighter in the frame than many of the other premium Penfolds reds, sitting on the plump end of the middleweight register.

If it was a middleweight boxer, it would be pushing heavyweight but just scraping through the weigh-in. Far from being chunky, as my description may indicate, this is fine, pliable, complex, and succulent; the tannins dovetail neatly through the finish and hold the fruit throughout the closing act. This is very impressive, elegant, excellent.

Drink 2024 - 2051

57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Shiraz. All used French oak.

Blackcurrants, spearmint and some graphite. It's very subtle on the nose. Medium-bodied with creamy and polished tannins and a long and vivid finish. Very polished and beautiful. This is a one-off for now from top parcels in Coonawarra that usually go into 707 and Grange. Lovely now.

Drink or hold