Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia, 2010 

Grape: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon with 14 months in new French oak

Producer Tasting Note:

Medium-deep crimson. Fresh blackcurrant, herb garden and cedar aromas with lightly roasted walnut notes. Classically inky smooth with cassis and herb garden flavours, lacy-fine graphite tannins and underlying new oak complexity. Finishes grainy firm with dried leaf and cola notes. Should build volume and density with further age.

Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon is a single regional style based on the best low-yielding blocks of terra rossa cabernet sauvignon – some of the oldest vine-stock material in Coonawarra.

Vintage Conditions:

Coonawarra experienced an exceptional start to the season with replenishing winter rains boosting underlying aquifiers. Favourable conditions continued during spring, allowing for excellent vine canopy development and fruit set. A burst of hot weather across November accelerated the ripening season, before the weather patterns settled in the new year. With wines achieving exceptional fruit definition and optimum tannin maturity, the 2010 vintage will long be remembered as a benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon.

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"Created to emphasise regionality – all from Penfolds-owned Block 10 in Coonawarra. 100% Cabernet. TA 6.6 g/l, pH 3.58. Matured for 14 months in new French oak. A benchmark vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon, described by Gago as 'magical'.
Very dark with black bright core. Lovely spice and cigar box aroma. Very pure cassis and cassis leaf. Just a touch of mintiness on the palate. Tastes like a ripe bordeaux. Terrific compact fruit and tannins yet so refined. Some graphite on the finish. Long, firm but so elegant. Finesse in the structure and the fruit less obviously sweet than on some of the wines in this new-release line up. The fruit has just eaten up the oak."  Drink 2016-2030

17.5+/20 points, Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2014

"A single vineyard wine, matured for 14 months in new French oak in which it finished the final stages of its fermentation. The bouquet is laden with cassis of startling purity, and while cedary oak is a major player, it is so well-integrated it doesn't overwhelm, let alone challenge, the fruit."

98/100 points, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion, September 2013

"Wow! This is terrific Cabernet. Poised, elegant, dense and powerful - it defines Cabernet Sauvignon with its refined power, cedarwood, blackberry and suggestion of mint and black olive. Long with enormous potential."

98/100 points, Bob Campbell, THE REAL REVIEW, February 2013

Food Match: Any dish based on beef or lamb where you might otherwise drink a top end claret  Penfolds recommend: Charred wagyu, Adelaide Hills porcini, native thyme, wild truffle and crisp saltbush