THE PRODUCER
Penfolds history is much more than the story of Grange. In 1844 Dr Christopher
and Mary Penfold planted vine cuttings they had brought from Europe at Magill
Estate in South Australia. Through innovation and hard work, Penfolds was South
Australia’s largest winery by the early twentieth century so winemaker Max
Schubert walked into a successful operation in 1948. His experiments with
different blends of wines and the use of American oak led to the creation of
wines were ground-breaking. So much so that the Grange project started in 1951
was officially shelved several years later, although wines were made and stored
in secret until it was officially re-instated in 1960.

Near the same time the “Bin” concept started. Simply named after their storage
bin, wines of different source and blend were given bin numbers on release. Some
of these became continual releases to this day, others had short runs or were
only released in exceptional years. Several of these individual Bin wines – such
as 60A, 620, 42, etc. – are now wines of legendary status.

Some of the greatest red wines of the 1950s and 60s in Australia were made by
blending wines from different areas to create a consistent style. Penfolds has
continued this with many of their range … rich, sumptuous wines mostly with the
spicing of American oak.  Penfolds has evolved its styles over the years and now
produce an exemplary range of blended and specific regional (South Australian)
shiraz styles. There are many choices in the range but we have selected three
outstanding wines - Grange Bin 95, St Henri Shiraz and Ben 389 Cabernet-Shiraz.

THE WINE
Bin 389 was first made in 1960 by the legendary Penfold’s winemaker Max Schubert
and was the wine that forged Penfold’s initial fame as a red wine specialist. A
blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, which gives structure, and Shiraz, which lends
richness, Bin 389 is often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’ because components of
the wine are matured in the same barrels that was used for previous vintages of
Grange. Grapes are sourced from the wine regions of McLaren Vale, Barossa
Valley, Padthaway, and Wrattonbully, and the wine is left to mature for 12
months in American hogsheads.

Bin 389 is a full bodied wine with enormous density of fruit, rich aromatic
complexity, and all balanced by fine suave tannins and crisp acidity.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2006
Country:AustraliaRegion:South AustraliaSub region:South Australia Regional
BlendsGrape:52% Cabernet Sauvignon & 48% SyrahStyle:Rich and IntenseSweetness:
DryABV:14.5%Drinking window:2010 - 2030Size:750mlFood match:Beef and Venison


CRITICS SCORES

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.