2019 Bin 169
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Tasting notes
Glass-staining garnet. Dark fruit, spice and floral qualities on the highly perfumed nose, along with suggestions of mocha, pipe tobacco and candied licorice. Stains the palate with powerful dark fruit preserve, vanilla, spicecake and violet pastille flavors underscored by a vein of juicy acidity. Sappy and penetrating on the impressively persistent finish, which shows outstanding clarity and dusty tannins that are steadily absorbed by the wine's dense fruit. All French oak, 56% of it new.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
As I so often find with Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, the fruit character is intense, cutting right through to the heart of the grape, focusing on cassis, blueberry, liquorice, flint and graphite. In colour this is bright and defined, with vibrant violet edges. Love the peony and rose petal, but the impresson is mainly about depth, purity, with no veil drawn between you and the fruit. Great quality - not the most celebrated Cabernet in the Penfolds range, but it adds content and character to the story of how they approach this grape. Tasted twice. 100% Coonawarra in origin, 100% French oak, 56% new.
Made only in appropriate vintages, and always from Coonwarra, the 2019 Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is aromatically reticent at this stage, however the power of the fruit in the mouth in unassailable. It blossoms on the back palate and shows pedigree and impressive stature. This is a supremely elegant wine of poise and detail, couched in a framework of power and dense muscly tannin. We all have our preferences between Bin 707 and Bin 169, but for me, my heart has always been with the 169. I think Cabernet deserves an elegant casing, and that is made from French oak (17 months in French oak, 56% new, to be precise). This is pure, but far too young right now. We know this has decades of graceful development ahead of it.
The 2019 Bin 169 is a beautifully pristine and pure Coonawarra Cabernet that was matured for 17 months in 56% new French Oak hogsheads. It offers up a classic regional expression. Aromas with pinpoint focus display a breath-taking start with leafy cassis, blackberry and cedar aromas nicely interwoven with high quality oak, extraordinary underlying energy and vitality. A delightful seamlessness between mouthcoating tannins and impressive violet and cranberry flavours follow with impeccable balance also on display. With incredible length, this Coonawarra classic will deliver for many years to come.
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.