Penfolds, Bin 60A Cabernet Shiraz, South Australia

Never had a Penfolds quite like this before. A showpiece of elegance, purity, and precision, that unfortunately lacks just an edge of emphasis and precedence. Subtle ripe dark fruits, primarily blackcurrant and cherry. Abundance of menthol, raisins, anise, cinnamon, cedar, along with some thyme, baking spices, vanilla, chocolate, liqorice, and toffee. Palette has clear Cabernet coming through with capsicum and extra virgin olive oil. Beyond that, there's an immediate vanilla extract sweetness that comes in a short initial burst, before …

Excellent wine. Smelled over ripe upon opening but two hours later, with no decant, this had settled back and was absolutely singing. Stayed that way through the evening. Wonderful fruit well accompanied by excellent terroir and other secondary flavors. At peak I think with probably another 5 years before the slide starts. This is only the second vintage ever made of this by Penfolds and they should make it more often. Blind tasted and would have been WOTN except for …

Clean elegant menthol. Leather, Blackberry, zingy acidity and tannin. Medium weight. Long finish with moderate complexity. Structure softening - is it robust enough to age another 10 years, I think not: drink now.

Dark purple in color with a purplish rim. Gorgeous nose of black currants, cooked plums, figs, dried fruits, cedar, light vanilla, turmeric, fennel, chocolates, tobacco, licorice, peppercorn, coffee, herbs and Mediterranean spices. Medium plus in body with medium acidity, elegant and smooth. Dry on the palate with blackberries, black currants, plums, cooked cherries, cedar, vanilla, spices, espresso, tobacco leaf, earth and dark coffee. Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy pomegranates. This 18 year old Cabernet Sauvignon blend from …

Slightly muddy in the glass with a nose of red fruits and camphor. Flavors of red fruits that are devoid of sweetness (in a good way) and camphor. Nicely complex with integrated tannins, appropriate acidity and. Medium finish. Well-balanced. Lovely.

This baby's singing A beautiful harmony

Superb complexity, highly concentrated and well balanced. Very long finish and don’t want anything else but another sip of this beauty!

For the first hour it's fusty and a bit mushroomed. Couple hours later it's a fairly classic cab shiraz blend and not really better than sole of them at a quarter (or less the price). The texture is great but theres a pervasive sourness even 4 hours in ... though I didn't store this bottle well ... whilst I've got half dozen more all stored perfectly so that will be interesting to see.

White Burgs and Penfolds. Bellecour, Wayzata MN : We ended the night with a Penfolds surprise - 2004 Bin 60A - a blend of roughly 50/50 Cab and Shiraz. A sublime bottle of wine, which was muscular, chewy, and utterly unique. Like the 91 Grange, this will likely age forever. Fantastic.

Is about 5 decades away from its apogee. It is a polished and powerful wine with a perfume of sweet cedar and blueberries. It is creamy and luscious in the mouth with fantastic depth and sweet spherical tannins.

Beat the Lafite tasting (Sydney, Australia) : Opulent but intoxicating aromas of blackberry, cassis, cinnamon, plum, tobacco and black cherry. It's incredible how seamless the palate feels, despite the tremendous density and youthful power of the fruit. The tannin structure is really impressive as it is not at all obtrusive while still providing structure to reign in the immense fruit. Delicious but give it time if you can!

This blend of 56% Coonawarra Cabernet, 44% Barossa Shiraz is another fine wine amongst a plethora of friends; it`s big and highly extracted and yet not clumsy; it`s fruity and yet not dominant; in fact, if this was a syrup, I`d gladly put it on some pancakes; it`s palate pleasing and has great length; this is a wine for the long haul and my goal is to be around to enjoy its treasures when they are ready to be expressed …

Penfolds tasting with Grange etc (Osia) : herbs de provence, intensive; nice wine

Dinner at Custom House (Custom House) : Opaque black color. Huge black fruit coffee nose. Huge chocolate black fruit wiht great sweetness and some jamminess. Very nice. 94-95 pts.

Penfolds Tasting - St Regis : Had this wine during a Grange Vertical tasting (82, 86, 90, 94, 95, 99, 00, 01 & 02). Worked my way from the 82 to the 02 with sniffing and drinking. Then when back through all the wines. This wine was tasted last. My overall wine of the night. Smelled like a top flight Diamond mountain cab. Bell peppers and beautiful vegetal notes. Higher toned red fruits with great intensity. Cherry and blackberry on …