Awards and Accolades

97 Points - James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion
"Matured for 12 months in American hogsheads (32% new). Unapologetically made with the don't fix if it isn't broken aphorism. It is tightly structured, with faultless attention to detail - wheels within wheels stuff, but inexorable in sending its black fruits (blackberry, blackcurrant) flavour message. Despite its full body, and its far-reaching longevity, it's tailor-made for the saltbush lamb shoulder of tonight's dinner."

96 Poiints - Tyson Stelzer, Tysonstelzer.com
"It’s at 389 where the magic really begins in the modern Penfolds line up, and the great 2015 season has produced a wine as dark, vibrant and enticing as ever. Cabernet and shiraz embrace harmoniously in a confluence of blackcurrant and blackberry depth, magnificently supported by classy dark chocolate American oak. Fine-grained tannins effortlessly yet confidently promise a grand future. Another of the greats in the magnificent lineage of Bin 389."

96 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
"It’s a wine with a ‘wow’ introduction. It throws beautiful, beautiful aroma. It’s distinguished by it. It’s sweet, pudding-like, like fresh vanilla, like lemon delicious. I went to taste this wine and couldn’t get past the nose; I just wanted to go on enjoying its aromatics. It’s smells every bit Penfolds but every bit itself. The palate is true to established form, with blackcurrant and bay leaf notes rigged to a powerful motor of tannin. Creamy/vanillin oak gets on with business too but again the fruit stares it down. From every angle this is a belter of a Bin 389. It’s best consumed any time between now and the apocalypse, or thereabouts."

From the Winery

Bin 389 was often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’, in part because components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. First made in 1960, by the legendary Max Schubert, this is the wine that helped to forge Penfolds solid reputation with red wine drinkers combining the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon with the richness of Shiraz. Bin 389 also exemplifies the judicious balance of fruit and oak.

Above-average winter and early spring rainfall offered the vines in South Australia healthy soil moisture profiles for the growing season. Late spring and summer were dry and warm with significant heat records being set. Warm weather prevailed during summer and throughout veraison, allowing grapes to develop evenly and with good intensity. These warm conditions came to an abrupt halt in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in mid-February with significant rainfall allowing long slow ripening of the fruit in very good ripening conditions. Wrattonbully had a warm and generally dry ripening end to the season allowing development of strong varietal flavours.

Colour: Bright crimson, deepening/darkening towards core

Nose: Much to intrigue here – a flash of baker’s sourdough rises above; beneath - crackling/crispy duck skin and
basting juices. Old-Garden fruits - rhubarb/quince/fig to the fore… New-Kitchen savouries, sesame oil/pinenut follow. Pencil shavings oak, stylishly legitimised by a classic graphite/ironstone-metal blackness. Smokey, gunflint, shale descriptors abound – a reminder that there’s more to Bin 389 than just crushed grapes!

Palate: A tasting-slurry of red-currant/eggplant/black olive induce a darker/savoury flavour pool. A generous mid-palate embalmed by integrated plush and ripe tannins. The ferrics lurk - an iron-laden meatiness intriguingly verging towards a knife-sharpening stone primed with olive oil. What!?! Varietal credibility redeemed by crème de cassis and blueberry fruits … but only just!

Region: Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra
Analysis: Acidity: 6.4 g/L, pH: 3.67
Maturation: 12 months in American oak hogsheads (53% new, 27% 1-y.o., 20% 2-y.o.)