Penfolds FWT 543 Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah 2022

Cabernet Sauvignon (52%) takes the lead role – just – but this is very much a wine that celebrates two equals. There’s a natural exuberance to 543, a sweet-fruited upfront appeal that is undeniable.  Complex and fragrant in ripe blackberry, red berries, liquorice, oolong smoky tea scents, rosemary, dried herbs, toasty cedar, woody spices. The Penfolds oak touch is evident, the mix of new French (40%) and American oak (60%) unmistakable really, lending an impressive sweet, shaved pencil/graphite backdrop to warm-hearted, generous flavours. It comes nicely poised, too, with sage herbals, bay leaf, cassis and spice lending a layer of aromatic brightness.  Finishes with more than enough fine-grained and persistent tannins and earthy savouriness to make for one complex, beguiling, long-living wine.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic