2015 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Bright-rimmed violet. Ripe blackcurrant and floral pastille scents are accompanied by musky earth, tobacco and licorice flourishes. Chewy and focused on the palate, offering bitter cherry and cassis flavors that are enlivened by a peppery element. Chewy tannins add shape and grip to a long, smoky finish that repeats the licorice and earth notes. There's a distinctly Old World thing going on here.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Halliday
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Really rather refined and classy on the nose. Polished claret with lovely balance. Lots of acidity and tannin on the end. Chewy for now. Dusty and dry on the end. Lifted and fresh. Still a little under-integrated. Tar and cassis liqueur. Sucky-stony quality. Very refreshing. Sinewy.
Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 407 is a little reticent at this stage, offering glimpses at black berry, black plum and pencil shavings notes with hints of menthol, earth and cloves. Full-bodied, concentrated and packed with black fruits and cedary flavors, it has a firm structure of grainy tannins and loads of freshness, finishing long.
Launched with the 1990 vintage in 1993, Bin 407 was developed in response to the increasing availability of high quality Cabernet Sauvignon fruit. Autumn and early winter rainfall were above the long-term average. Rain stopped abruptly in early August, pushing Coonawarra below the long-term average due to the drier end to winter, with only light showers observed throughout spring. The dry and cool spring period affected canopy growth early in the season. Warm and dry conditions during flowering and fruit-set resulted in rapid grapevine growth and early flowering. A high rainfall event occurred in Coonawarra in January, mostly falling outside of veraison. February delivered weekend heat spikes, pushing mean maximum temperatures well above the average, resulting in early ripening and harvest. Cabernet-Sauvignon from Wrattonbully, Coonawarra, Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley. TA 7 g/l, pH 3.62. 12 months in 25% new French hogsheads; 10% new, 18% one-year-old, 36% two-year-old and 11% three-year-old American oak hogsheads. Really rather refined and classy on the nose. Polished claret with lovely balance. Lots of acidity and tannin on the end. Chewy for now. Dusty and dry on the end. Lifted and fresh. Still a little under-integrated. Tar and cassis liqueur. Sucky-stony quality. Very refreshing. Sinewy. (JR)
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.