Penfolds RWT Bin 798 Barossa Valley Shiraz 2019
- 95
- $200
- Drink by: 2026 - 2042
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This version of Barossa Shiraz sees only French oak, while Grange is all American. To be exact, 18 months in French hogsheads, 57% new and 43% one-year-old. Black blue in colour with a purple edge. This has noticeable oak at the moment, to the extent that it embalms the fruit a little more than one would wish, but it is early days and this will surely resolve itself. Black fruits, coffee grinds, a hint of salami, mulberries, soy. Good intensity, but at the moment, too tightly wound, too closed. This needs a lot of time. More time than I can recall an RWT needing at this early stage. Still, if one can provide that time then the wait will be rewarded. Coiled power on the palate. Firm, quite solid tannins. Good length. For me at this stage, while it is obviously a very fine wine, it is a fractional one-dimensional. Even a touch chunky. But this is nothing that time will not resolve. Today, 95 for me, but no other wine in the Collection has more room for improvement.
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.
