Penfolds Bin 138 Barossa Valley Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2023

This vintage, the blend is 56% Grenache, 38% Shiraz and 6% Mataro. Maturation was for a year in a mix of seasoned French and American oak hogsheads, with the different varieties blended just before bottling. A riveting purple, a wine of class which screams Barossa. Notes of chocolate, mocha, violets, coffee beans, licorice, cassis, and more chocolate. Anyone who has ever enjoyed a Cherry Ripe, and that would be almost every schoolkid in the country, will be immediately transported back to the days when that luscious choc/cherry flavour seemed the most decadent thing on earth. The wine continues with power, direction and focus, excellent balance and a persistent finish. There is juicy acidity here. A wine which will undoubtedly continue to build, develop and improve over the next ten to fifteen years. Even a brief twenty to thirty minutes in the glass saw it simply exploding with flavour and chocolatey goodness.