NZ Wine Information: Penfolds Not All About Grange Hermitage
October 5th, 2009
We all know Penfolds Grange Hermitage and other prestige wines from this company last a very long time but what about the Bin range, the wines you can quite regularly find at reasonable prices (anywhere between $20 and $30) in local supermarkets?
Is it worth putting these wines away in the cellar? Judging from a 1998 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, the answer is an emphatic yes. According to Penfolds 1998 was one of the best ever vintages of the Bin 389 blend (along with 1976, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2004) and the two bottles I sampled were superb.
Although this wine was over 10 years old it looked young (dark purple) with very little bricking around the edge of the glass. The nose was blackberry and blackcurrant. In the mouth both dark fruits were apparent along with chocolate, and a herbal character, almost lavender. The wine still has strong tannins and had a long dry finish. It was clear this wine has many years to go (maybe another 10) before it starts to decline in quality.
A check on the web shows bottles of the 1998 Bin 389 can still be purchased (at around the NZ$100 mark). If you buy it or if you have some in the cellar make sure you decant it. There was plenty of sediment.
For those interested, the Bin 389 is about as far removed from single vineyard wines as you can go. It is made from grapes grown in the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Clare Valley. Newer vintages also have grapes from Robe and Bordertown in the mix! This is a true South Australian wine.
We drank the 1998 as an accompaniment to some superb 150 day grain fed steak. Unfortunately I don’t think you can buy this commercially in NZ at present as it was an excellent match. I was lucky enough to be served it by the owner of the meat export company who was our kind host for the evening.
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