Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
Bin 707 is a perfect Cabernet Sauvignon representation of Penfolds House Style: intensely flavoured fruit, with the completion of fermentation and maturation in new oak. It expresses a Penfolds understanding of multi-vineyard, multi-region fruit sourcing. Like Grange, it is a blend of the best Cabernet fruit from the vintage. First vintaged in 1964, Bin 707 has long retained a secure place among the ranks of Australia’s finest Cabernets.
The 2023 vintage is a rich and commanding wine, its palate saturated with dark fruit flavours with notes of dark chocolate, spice and savoury depths. An expansive, full-bodied wine with proven transformation in the cellar.
Scents of black olive tapenade and tobacco pouch may assist in the varietal ID. At first, scents ascend of Copha/dusty chocolate and barrel-ferment pralines. Ditto, dry-aged beef and pan juices. Soaked dark cherry/fruit cake mix/rhubarb/Black Forest cake attest to variety. Peripheral freshly ground cinnamon notes add further complexity. And again, not to forget – we’re engaging Penfolds ‘Grange of Cabernet’… almost identical winemaking and 100% Quercus alba. Many confer – different variety, similar style.
A first impression reveals that this release is not overtly fruit-dependent, although blackberry and mulberry fruits are instantly detected. Perhaps more of a savoury/earthy disposition, augmented by pan juices/jus and black olive, and laced with exotic spices; turmeric, bay leaf and pimento. An expansive, woven palate conveys this vinous deliciousness, with a positive tension assisted by seamless Cabernet tannins, that are at once granular, sleek. Structure and flavours are both sophisticated and complex… masterfully conjured and showcased via this noble variety, Cabernet Sauvignon.
