Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon / 2023 / 750mL

The Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 is a full-bodied South Australian Cabernet drawn from McLaren Vale, Padthaway and the Barossa Valley, with no Coonawarra fruit in the blend this year. It is a dark, savoury and commanding wine rather than a simply fruity one, and it carries the depth Bin 707 is known for.

Aromatically the 2023 leans savoury: blackberry and mulberry sit behind black olive, tobacco and dark chocolate, with praline, roasting juices and a lift of cinnamon, bay leaf and pimento. The palate follows with soaked dark cherry, fruit cake spice and rhubarb, all wrapped in the sweet vanillin of 18 months in American oak hogsheads.

Structure is the point here. Tannins are firm, fine-grained and long, the acidity holds the mid-palate taut, and the finish is dry, earthy and persistent, closing on cocoa and cured meat rather than fruit sweetness. The cooler, wetter growing season across McLaren Vale and Padthaway gave small berries and ripe tannins, which shows in the wine's concentration without heaviness.

Pour it with dry-aged rib eye, slow-roasted lamb shoulder with anchovy and rosemary, oxtail braised in red wine, or a wedge of aged cheddar. It rewards a decant of at least an hour.

Approachable now with air, the Bin 707 2023 will be better from 2030 and should hold and improve through to 2050 in good cellar conditions.