2017 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Saturated ruby. Cherry pit, blackcurrant, woodsmoke, pipe tobacco and a vanilla nuance on the expressive nose. Juicy, palate-caressing dark fruit flavors show an appealing mix of power and energy and pick up an exotic floral pastille note on the back half. Finishes smooth, sappy and long, with even tannins and echoes of sweet dark berries and peppery spices.
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Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
James Suckling
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Another beautiful effort in the lineup this year is the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 407, which is a multi-region cuvée brought up in both French and American oak hogsheads. Classic notes of blackcurrants and cassis interwoven with hints of dill, tobacco, and graphite all flow to a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon that’s fabulously balanced, with good acidity as well as ripe tannins. Give bottles another year or two and it should cruise for a decade or more.
There’s no Bin 707 from the 2017 vintage, so that fruit has been put into the 2017 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a lifted, perfumed style of Cabernet aged in both French and American hogsheads, with leafy, minty accents and Ribena-like cassis notes. Medium to gull-bodied, it has a velvety texture and a soft, approachable finish, tinged with vanilla and dried spices. A blend of fruit from Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Wrattonbully.
This has a duality between some cooler-climate sourcing (some downgraded Bin 707 material went here) and warmer-region fruit from McLaren Vale and the Barossa, delivering impressive flesh and fruit weight. Really builds and fills and holds a wide-open finish. Drink or hold.
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.