Penfolds - Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 169 Coonawarra 2019

The Wine Advocate: "Made only in appropriate vintages, and always from Coonwarra, the 2019 Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is aromatically reticent at this stage, however the power of the fruit in the mouth in unassailable. It blossoms on the back palate and shows pedigree and impressive stature. This is a supremely elegant wine of poise and detail, couched in a framework of power and dense muscly tannin. We all have our preferences between Bin 707 and Bin 169, but for me, my heart has always been with the 169. I think Cabernet deserves an elegant casing, and that is made from French oak (17 months in French oak, 56% new, to be precise). This is pure, but far too young right now. We know this has decades of graceful development ahead of it."

James Suckling: "Such impressive freshness to the aromas of pure mulberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, redcurrants and a swathe of roasting herbs, such as bay leaf and sage. Iodine and nori, too. The French oak is nicely subsumed already and there’s fruit purity that really sings here. The palate has a wealth of rich and ripe blue and black-fruit flavors with plenty of extract and depth on offer. This is an impressively bold, smoothly honed and focused cabernet. Fine, polished tannins frame the long finish. Drink over the next decade and more."

Falstaff: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, breitere Ockerrandaufhellung. Rote Kirsche, etwas Minze, dunkler Nougat, ein Hauch von Eukalyptus, facettenreiches Aroma. Saftig, reife Kirschen, frischer Säurebogen, seidige und doch präsente Tannine, mineralisch-salzige Textur, bleibt lange haften, ein lebendiger Speisenbegleiter, sicheres Entwicklungspotenzial."

Decanter: "It’s a Film Noir – surprisingly lean in the opening scene, but then it pans out on the wide screen to reveal a full, vivid colour spectrum. As shades of raspberry, blueberry, bay leaf, nutmeg and dusty red earth become noticeable, the flavour line remains long, lean and controlled. Its tight tannic finish suggests an especially long life in the cellar."

Jancis Robinson: "Glowing blackish crimson. Very rich and pungent with layers of melted blackcurrant cough sweets. Very long but still extremely tight. Peter Gago suggests the tannins are like ‘those mouth-watering Italian tannins’. The wine is indeed sappy."