2019 Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 149 saw 100% new oak, 80% French and 20% American. The fruit here is really powerful and drives the wine through the front palate, middle and finish. It is concentrated and long and undeterred. This is seriously smart and shows precision and detail in both the winemaking and fruit. The three Californian wines form an equal step up each time of quality, concentration and complexity—as it should be, frankly—which makes for very satisfying drinking. It contains 10.9% Australian Cabernet Sauvignon (a blend of A1 grade Coonawarra and Barossa Valley). This will drink very well early, but it will also cellar gracefully for over a decade or more. My assessment of the blend in this instance is that the sweetness of the American and Australian fruit find simpatico with one another—the dovetail is seamless.

2018 was the first of these trans-Pacific blends, labelled ‘Wine of the World’, with 14.9% Australian – mainly Coonawarra – fruit (hence the bin number 149). The proportion was 10.9% in 2019. The remainder is from Napa Valley. Blended, matured and bottled at Beringer. 17 months in French (80% new) and American oak (20% new). TA 6.54, pH 3.74. Very deep colour. Fresh and sleek. Certainly seamless and already great fun. Aromatic and just nicely dusty on the finish. (JR)