Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2005

The one everyone always wants to know about though - is of course Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2005 ($58). No one in their right mind can call this wine disappointing. Indeed I reckon it's the best since the 1996. It's a wine of immense structured power. Sure there are rich flavours of plums, blackcurrant, smoky vanillin and tobacco, but really it's a wine about tannin and balance and grunt. I don't think I could enjoy drinking this right now (well, I could, but only on masochistic nights) but I know that it will cellar like a dream. A classic in the making. Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front