Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Description

Bin 707 is a perfect cabernet sauvignon representation of Penfolds ‘House Style’: intensely-flavoured fruit; completion of fermentation and maturation in new oak; expressing a Penfolds understanding of multi-vineyard, multi-region fruit sourcing. Bin 707 was first vintaged in 1964. The wine was not made from 1970 to 1975 (when fruit was directed to other wines) nor in 1981, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2011 or 2017 (when fruit of the required style and quality was not available). Full-bodied and with proven cellaring potential, Bin 707 retains a secure place among the ranks of Australia’s finest cabernets.

Certainly the sum of its parts… McLaren Vale = front palate plushness, and again, sea spray. Coonawarra = terra rossa red-dustiness, earth. Barossa Valley = a solid core, and a drive that stridently lunges to the back-palate, enhanced by a regional donation of chocolate/cigar. The berried/plum compôte (with nutmeg and custard) flavours of this Bin 707 are difficult to regionally affix. Yet no more so than its oak (100% new!) is difficult to acknowledge. A mid-palate richness clasps onto graphite and layers of discrete regional cabernet tannins … that time will no doubt morph. In every sense, ‘well-connected’.

Like the 2013 Bin 707, this release could well build quite profoundly in bottle … concordant to each successive sniff and sip, building and complexing as the wine sits in the glass. Peter Gago, Penfolds Chief Winemaker/p>

Sourced from McLaren Vale (41%), Coonawarra, Barossa Valley and Padthaway this vintage, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 spent 18 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads prior to bottling. Scents of vanilla, cedar and celery seed seamlessly swirl around dark notions of cassis, plum, coffee and cocoa. There's a touch of mint, but it fits well within the context of the wine. Full-bodied, concentrated and rich, this wine looks to have at least two decades ahead of it. The finish is truly special, with beguiling hints of maple syrup balanced by a smooth, enveloping wash of softly dusty tannins. 97pts, Wine Advocate