WTN: 1992 Penfolds Bin 389

Every once in awhile you pull an old bottle out of the cellar and get a pleasant surprise. This cab shiraz blend has always been one of my favourirtes and I tend to give it a fair bit of age, although not always two decades.

It showed a quite dark colour, and had good legs, the nose was an enticing nutmeg and cassis, and on palate the wine was still all together, with ample warm fruit, smooth and supple. with a nice acidic lift at the end. Although there are still some soft tannins, this should be drunk sooner rather than later, but showed exceptionally well given the age.

... but showed exceptionally well given the age.

and indeed a pretty much unheralded vintage (though the older I get, the more wary I am of vintage generalisations)

I liked the 1992s enought to buy 389, 707, Lehman Stonewell, Wolf Blass Black Label and Lindemans Pyrus and have enjoyed all of them. I agree that vintage reports tend to ignore very good wines from vintages that were anything but stellar.

[Jenise]

I liked the 1992s enought to buy 389, 707, Lehman Stonewell, Wolf Blass Black Label and Lindemans Pyrus and have enjoyed all of them. I agree that vintage reports tend to ignore very good wines from vintages that were anything but stellar.

I perceive part of that problem to be that 1) hugely ripe Oz vintages are over-rewarded and 2) that Australia is such a collection of diverse growing regions but the wine press on this side of the pond tends to lump them all together. How many thousands of miles is it between the Hunter Valley and Coonawarra, or for that matter Margaret River? California has something of the same problem--what's true in Napa isn't neccessarily true in Santa Barbara, or sometimes even Sonoma. But it's nowhere near the scale.

Jenise
I'm certainly coming round to the idea of 1) for the warmer parts of South Australia (where the likes of Bin389, 707, WB Black Label and Stonewell are grown). Much as Aussie wine forums (and the odd critic) have lambasted Parker for his love of fruit bombs over the years, they're probably a little closer to him in style preferences than they'd like to admit. Good bold fruit seems to be a necessity to getting a good rap (well that and complete avoidance of Brett )
regards
Ian
p.s. That's not to say I can't on occasions be a luscious lush myself and enjoy a big fruited beast of a wine.