2017 Bronze Award - Bin 28 offers a showcase of warm-climate Australian Shiraz – ripe, robust and generously flavoured. First made in 1959, Bin 28 is named after the famous Barossa Valley Kalimna Vineyard purchased by Penfolds in 1945 and from which the wine was originally sourced. Today, Bin 28 is a multi-region, multi-vineyard blend, with the Barossa Valley always well represented.
-
Varietal: Shiraz
-
Size: 750mL
-
Region: Barossa Valley
-
Current Vintage: 2015
-
Standard Drinks: 8.6
-
Alcohol Volume: 14.4%
-
Langtons Classified: Excellent
-
Country: Australia
-
State: South Australia
-
Closure: Screw Cap
-
Wine Style: Dry
Colour
Vibrant, dense plum red, red edges.
Nose
A black Kalamata olive tapenade as a first impression, beneath an overlay of camphor and tobacco.
How to say this politely? Boot polish, bitumen, cola, granite … darkened style/varietal base notes.
Yet blackberry conserve and sour cherry fill the (fruity) treble register.
Scents of cut straw/steel cut oats fill any aromatic chord gaps.
Palate
Full-bodied. Substantial.
Framboise des bois (raspberry) with pips/vinegar – coulis or apothecary?
Meat? Closest association noted – raw/rare venison. Not to deny the welcomed presence of chocolate torte and mocha flavours.
A “cloaked” continuum of tannins that linger and reverberate with the discipline of a vinous pendulum.
Finishes intact with a flourish of dusty graphite (input of oak?) and balanced acidity.
James Halliday (95 points): Matured for 12 months in used American oak. Like all the Penfolds '16 red wines, flawless colour and clarity heralds a bouquet that leaps out of the glass with a heady perfume of roses, bramble, spice and licorice. The palate duly delivers an effortless wave of dark chocolate, cherry and licorice. 14.5% alc, cork 95 points, drink to 2036
Andrew Caillard (95 points): Medium deep crimson. Classic dark chocolate dark berry aromas with roasted walnut, shellac notes. Lovely fresh inky, mulberry, blackberry fruits, fine looseknit chocolaty tannins, and underlying roasted nut/savoury notes. Finishes chocolaty and long with red liquorice, aniseed nuances. A very stylish “go-to” claret type with all of the hallmarks of the Penfolds house style. Ripe fruit, richness of flavour, concentration and chocolaty textures. Although drinking well, keep for a few years.
ref.: danmurphys
