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Tasting notes
Muscular, concentrated, powering ahead with momentum and energy, deep rich damson plum in colour. Concentrated and intense, crackling campfire, cigar box, roasted coffee bean, aniseed, fennel, turmeric, black pepper, liqourice, powerful, with the relief offered (and needed) of mandarin, orange peel, slate, crayon, mint, great quality, hard to argue with. 100% new American oak for ageing, Peter Gago chief winemaker.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
This wine always steps up to show what Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia can deliver, and the 2016 is a beautiful vintage, with velvety-textured tannins that lead you forward through the palate, holding smoked raspberry and blackberry fruits, with clear slate, fennel and bitter chocolate, all softening through the mid palate to reveal sandalwood and spiced vanilla. Unfined and unfiltered, just racking every few months during ageing. 100% new American 300l oak casks. In this vintage the fruit comes largely from the iconic Block 42 Cab, plus plots in Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra. Peter Gago chief winemaker.
Saturated ruby. Expansive, smoke-tinged aromas of ripe red and blue fruit liqueur, candied flowers, sandalwood, coconut and pipe tobacco show superb definition and spicy lift. Stains the palate with alluringly sweet cherry-cola, blackcurrant jam, mocha, vanilla and fruitcake flavors that show noteworthy depth as well as energy. A minerally nuance appears with air and drives an extremely long, gently tannic finish that echoes the cherry and floral notes.
Aged for 20 months in new American oak hogsheads. TA 6.8 g/l, pH 3.69. Dark chocolate, black cherry, very strident tannins that have super-fine texture but cover the palate like an exploding bag of flour. Very dark, very savoury, very serious and very impressive. Far too young – that structure quickly tires the palate with astringency – but it will be a great bottle with time. (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.