Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz 2023
- 92
- $50
- Drink by: 2025-2035
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Today, the fruit is sourced from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Padthaway, rather than just the Kalimna vineyard which gave the wine its name. Maturation is for a year in American oak, 15% new. The colour in the glass was a shimmering, yet opaque maroon. A little more dense than some, yet it appears almost demure, indeed reticent, in comparison. Black fruits rule, with leather, cloves, black olives, dark chocolate, blackberries, licorice and graphite. In those brief moments when the black fruits loosen their grip, we see notes of blueberries and even blood sausage scrapings sneak through. Well-handled oak, which will be near invisible in a few short years, and the wine has serious concentration. Demure and reticent to open, certainly, but it did not take all that long for it to emerge from its shell. A juicy fruit style with very dark chocolate notes on the palate and sour cherries on the finish, there is good balance here. Fine, firm tannins finish the wine, which is of medium length. Ten years will be a doddle for it.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
