Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Cabernet Sauvignon has provided a high point in Penfolds tastings through recent years, and this beauty seduces from the first whiff. Showing note-perfect varietal aromas, with a breeze of ripe purple fruit over fresh, leafy herbs and rich red earth, the perfume is full and persistent. The entry is sharp and arresting, with fruit purity on point and channelled down the right corridors by supple tannins and a clean acid seam. It shows exemplary balance through to the long finish.

While the 2019 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon shows ample concentration and ripe tannins, there's a pervasive herbal note. While some will call it Cabernet's varietal character—and I won't dispute that a bit of pyrazine is indeed endemic to the Cabernet family of grapes—balance is key. To this taster, there's just a bit too much mint and other green stuff for me to go gaga over the 2019 Bin 407. It's still an excellent wine, with plenty of weedy cassis fruit, a ripe, lush feel on the medium to full-bodied palate and a velvety, dark-chocolate finish. Sourced from Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, it spent a year in a combination of French and American