Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 South Australia《Terroir Collection - ZTAU006》

Region : McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, Robe, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Grapes : 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Alcohol : 14.5%

Website : https://www.penfolds.com/en-au/home

🏅 James Halliday 98 pts

🏅 Ken Gargett 98 pts

🏅 James Suckling 98 pts

🏅 Wine Advocate 97+ pts

🏅 Andrew Caillard 97 pts

🏅 Tyson Stelzer 97 pts

🏅 Huon Hooke 97 pts

🏅 Wine Spectator 94 pts

🏅 Wine Enthusiast 94 pts

🏅 Vivino 4.7

Bin 707 is a perfect cabernet sauvignon representation of Penfolds ‘House Style’: intensely-flavoured fruit; completion of fermentation and maturation in new oak; expressing a Penfolds understanding of multi-vineyard, multi-region fruit sourcing. Bin 707 was first vintaged in 1964. The wine was not made from 1970 to 1975 (when fruit was directed to other wines) nor in 1981, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2011 or 2017 (when fruit of the required style and quality was not available). Full-bodied and with proven cellaring potential, Bin 707 retains a secure place among the ranks of Australia’s finest cabernets. 

Inspired by the iconic jet that took it to the world. The rich and powerful Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, our first commercial release of a single cabernet-based wine, is linked to Max Schubert’s dream of making a great Australian red wine that could last at least 20 years. During the ‘50s and early ‘60s cabernet sauvignon was mostly used for blending, but Schubert’s breakthrough with the varietal as a stand-alone wine came in 1964 with inaugural vintage. Early Bin 707s were typically open fermented under wax-lined header boards and matured in seasoned old oak (rather than new oak). The wine was not made from 1970 to 1975 (when fruit was directed to other wines) nor in 1981, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2011 or 2017 (when fruit of the required style and quality was not available).

VINEYARD REGION

McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, Robe, Adelaide Hills

WINE ANALYSIS

Alc/Vol: 14.5%, Acidity: 7.0 g/L, pH: 3.57

MATURATION

18 months in American oak hogsheads (100% new)

COLOUR

Deep mulberry red

NOSE

First impression: An automatic ascent of cabernet sauvignon varietal fruits laced with classic Bin 707 barrel-ferment and formic markers. Fruit and derivatives: Scents of boysenberry ice-cream, black forest cake, dark black cherry/kirsch... and zabaglione, pana cotta notes hovering above.

Oak: Contribution noted via the release of sandalwood, frankincense and whetstone sharpening block graphite aromatics. Lasting impression: Vivid. Elemental. Beckoning.

PALATE

A solid cabernet core immediately apparent, with fruits to the fore (juicy blackcurrant) and a wrinkled, black olive concentration. Texturally, the fine weave of a tapestry – a thread of rhubarb/cranberry natural acidity, wrapped around a mesh of slinky tannins. (A perception of skin and seed tannins only, despite 100% new oak. No doubt the wine’s gloss and sleekness render this isconception). Complexingly, a dark chocolate graininess, cedar and a savoury disposition contribute to the layering, length and longevity potential of this wine. Complete.

🏅 Ken Gargett 98 pts

Opaque purple colour.  The immediate impression, at this very early stage, is that the oak is stilldominating, but oak of such quality.  Through it soon emerge notes of cedar, blackfruits, choco. late, spices, rich chocolate cake almost verging on suggesting this wine is more like a Cabernetdessert.  Focused, balanced and extremely long, this is a cracking Cabernet.  A wine for twenty tothirty years. A day later, even more impressive. Real persistence, serious concentration and yet a wine of evenmore finesse than it first seemed.

🏅 James Suckling 98 pts

This has a very expressive and intense feel with assertive, 100% new American oak, sitting in a bold, spicy layer with vanilla, bourbon and espresso notes, across the blueberries, blackcurrants and boysenberries. The palate has a very taut yet luscious delivery of rich plum and cranberry flavors. There’s such long and taut tannin and oak is driving this into tightly compressed shape with roasted-coffee tones to the very intense and long, ripe plums and black cherries. Powerful, commanding cabernet. This is a great Bin 707. Attractive now, but best to wait until 2025.

🏅 Wine Advocate 97+ pts

In case readers weren't aware, Bin 707 is always aged in new American oak, like Grange. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 features plenty of vanilla on the nose, backed by concentrated cassis fruit. It's full-bodied, velvety and richly tannic, clearly meant to have two decades (or more) of longevity. Marked by ripe fruit, a notable lack of herbaceousness, and lavish oak, it's out of step with current trends in Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, but it's no less delicious and all the more unique for that.

🏅 Andrew Caillard 97 pts

Deep crimson. Elegant blackcurrant, black olive, graphite aromas with meaty, vanilla, mocha notes. Supple and weleconcentrated with attractive blackcurrant, blackberry fruits, fine graphite/ touch al dente tannins and plentiful mocha,espresso oak notes. Finishes muscular/ chewy /cedary firm and minerally. A very polished wine with lovely fruitdensity and toraue. The alter-ego of Grange with marvellous varietal definition. comolexitv. volume and drive.

🏅 Tyson Stelzer 97 pts

Inimitable Bin 707.  The warm summer of 2018 has ripened a deeply coloured and confidently structured Bin 707 ofheightened fruit depth, met confidently head-on by new American oak.  Blackcurrant, cassis and liquorice are deeplimpacted by high cocoa dark chocolate and freshly ground coffee.

🏅 Vinous 96 pts

Glass-staining ruby. Intensely perfumed red and dark fruit liqueur, floral oil, coconut and cured tobacco gualities on thehighly expressive nose. Offers palate-staining, stil-primary cherry-vanilla, blackcurrant, coconut and fruitcake flavorsthat are lifted and sharpened by an undercurrent of smoky minerality. Gains weight with air while retaining energy andfinishes sweet and extremely long, with reverberating cherry and floral notes and supple, slow-building tannins.

🏅 Wine Spectator 94 pts

Intense and powerful, offering a vibrant mix of Kalamata olive, gunpowder tea, toffee, Szechuan peppercorn and dark chocolate notes. The dense and toothsome huckleberry, blueberry and maraschino cherry flavors are harmonious, showing plenty of oomph through the long, velvety finish.

🏅 Wine Enthusiast 94 pts

Bin 707 is, as always, a gargantuan Cab that's still in its infancy. But all is in place for a long life in cellar, from the lucid aromas of semidried plums and berries, earthy, peppery spice, graphite and dark-chocolate oak characteristics to the fine, muscular, tannins. There's harmony throughout despite the wine's current enormity.

$2250/bottle