Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon, like the Shiraz and red wine blends, is renowned for its high quality, but notorious for its exorbitant price tag. Their Bin 407 retails at close to $100.00 a bottle while its big brother, the Bin 707 sits in a Grange-esque range of around $300 to $500, depending on the vintage.
Against this background, we shouldn’t have been surprised when in 2012, the Penfolds winemaking team decided to attempt to corner a wider spectrum of the market by launching a more affordable Cabernet at around the $30 price point.
The Penfolds Bin 9 is currently sitting on the shelves as a 2013 vintage and like many Penfolds reds, has fruit sourced from a range of regions across South Australia. The bottle is familiar but once in the glass, a leafy herbaceousness hits your nostrils like a Jeff Fenech uppercut, but given time to settle, the influence of McLaren Vale fruit provides a savoury current and cranberry picnic all wrapped up in an American oak blanket. It’s more elegant than fruit driven and shows all the charm and sophistication of its elder statesman siblings. There’s a lovely balance between fruit and oak and while it’s a dry style and perhaps only medium in body, it will certainly develop if given time in the cellar. If you’re a disciple to the Penfolds brand, you’ll undoubtedly find the Bin 9 to be one of the best value propositions in their stable.
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