Penfolds Bin 407 is an elegant style with clear varietal blackcurrant, cassis aromas, fine-grained firm tannins and underlying savoury oak. First produced in 1990, Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon is based on a rigorous selection of multi-regional South Australian fruit. The wine is matured for 12-14 months in a combination of new French oak and American oak hogsheads with the remainder aged in seasoned French and American oak.
Cabernet Sauvignon has provided a high point in Penfolds tastings through recent years, and this beauty seduces from the first whiff. Showing note-perfect varietal aromas, with a breeze of ripe purple fruit over fresh, leafy herbs and rich red earth, the perfume is full and persistent. The entry is sharp and arresting, with fruit purity on point and channelled down the right corridors by supple tannins and a clean acid seam. It shows exemplary balance through to the long finish.
98 points, David Sly, Decanter (June 2021)
Full bottle 1,470 g. Fruit from Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. Aged for 12 months in French (27% new) and American (8% new) oak hogsheads.
Fairly deep purple. A certain gaminess on the nose as well as the pyrazines of Cabernet – unusual! Very sweet blackcurrant flavours and fairly rounded tannins compared with some of its stablemates. Dry but appetising finish rather than uncomfortably drying tannins on the end. Rather beguiling though still terribly young and unformed. At the moment it's pure fruit and a bit of tannin when surely it's capable of developing into something much more interesting. I'd wait for a few years.
17 points, JancisRobinson.com (July 2021)
Is this a wine to rejuvenate the failing fortunes of Australian cabernet sauvignon? In its 29th release, Bin 407 steals the show, sets the pace with a fully energised, beautifully balanced young cabernet of class. It’s all the more significant because it’s from a warm-hot vintage across the regions where fruit was sourced. The Barossa Valley, for example, experienced 31 days of temperatures exceeding 35C.
A bright, punchy introduction of freshly picked black and blue berries, violet, dried herbs, a hint of clove. But it is the oak component – French (27% new) and American (8% new) – that shines because it’s fully integrated, balanced. It dares you to suss it out amid all of the ripe fruit goings-on. So dark, so fresh across the palate with black strap licorice, bay leaf, dried sage working in a matrix of super fine tannins.
95 points, Wine Pilot
You have to note the eucalypt but the palate here is fantastically well formed and the spread through the finish is elite. Blackcurrant, mint, a briary tobacco-like aspect, a clip of aubergine and cedar. Quality at its most uncomplicated.
94 points, The Wine Front (July 2021)
Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley fruit. Matured 12 months in 27% new French and 8% new American oak hogsheads. Nuances of menthol and eucalypt not often seen in Bin 407, perhaps the presence of Padthaway taking a stronger lead this vintage? This might also be the explanation, too, for a more saline feel to the palate. All the classic blackcurrant, cassis and roast capsicum expected of Bin 407 hold through a finish of impressive line and length, sustained by strong, fine-grained, mineral tannins.
94 points, Wine Companion (July 2021)
South Australia is the driest state on the world’s driest continent. Covering almost 1 million (984 377km) square kilomteres, it represents 12.8% of the Australian land mass. Sweeping plains are intersected by a spine of relatively low lying ranges, the Mount Lofty/Flinders Ranges which extend through the heart of the State. Over 50% of the state is elevated at under 150 metres. The Great Artesian basin covers almost one-third of the State. The major river is the River Murray which lethargically makes its way into the Southern Ocean. This water mass has a moderating effect on climate, particularly in the southern regions of South Australia where most vines are planted.
Summers are generally hot and dry with relatively mild nights. Winters are cool. Rainfall occurs mostly during late autumn/winter (May, June, July, August). Drought and salinity are major concerns.
The principle wine regions in South Australia are; the Adelaide Hills, Barossa (comprising the Barossa and Eden Valleys), Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Coonawarra and the Riverland. Vineyard expansion has also extended to Wrattonbully, Mount Benson, Bordertown, Robe, Southern Fleurieu and the Flinders Ranges.
It is a tradition for many wine companies to make multi-district blends from South Australian fruit – the idea of house style taking precedence over regional definition. Penfolds pioneered this concept. The vagaries of vintage variation can be evened out by fruit selection, ensuring quality at a high level. However there is debate that this concept comes at the expense of the ‘soul’ of the wine. Penfolds Grange is probably the most famous multi-district blend and is an excellent counter-argument.
Andrew Caillard MW, Langton'sPenfolds
Penfolds is probably the most extraordinary of the world’s wine brands with an enviable reputation for quality at every price level. The original Penfold was an English doctor who, in 1844, planted grapes at Magill, now a suburb of Adelaide. However, it was not until the late 1940s that Penfolds began to forge a reputation for red wine.
The Penfolds house style emerged from a fortified wine producing culture and evolved as a winemaking philosophy which has had a profound effect on the entire Australian wine industry. Many of the techniques initially adopted to make Penfolds Grange would become part of the wider Penfolds winemaking culture. The number of techniques employed in the research and development of Penfolds wines is astonishing. Max Schubert and his team pioneered: major advances in yeast technology and paper chromatography; the understanding and use of pH in controlling bacterial spoilage; the use of headed down/submerged cap fermentation and the technique of rack and return; cold fermentation practices; the use of American oak as a maturation vessel and perhaps most critically, partial barrel fermentation. Nowadays, the use of American oak and barrel fermentation for instance is considered traditional Barossa winemaking practice!
Today, Penfolds house style embraces the concept of multi-regional blending, optimum fruit quality, the use of fine-grained American or French oak, barrel fermentation and maturation. Overall, the Penfolds style is about highly-defined fruit aromas, fruit sweetness, ripe tannins, richness, power and concentration. The number of iconic wines that have emerged from the Penfolds stable over the years is remarkable. Bin 389 a Cabernet Shiraz blend released in 1960 is now considered the quintessential Australian wine blend. Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz and Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz released in 1962 pre-empted the contemporary enthusiasm for regional definition by about 25 years. Improved vineyard management, site selection and winemaking brought about subsequent releases of Bin 707 and Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon. The Penfolds Wine Making Philosophy is the accumulation of more than half-a-century of knowledge and winemaking practice initiated by Max Schubert and subsequently refined by Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago. Their collective commitment to multi-regional and vineyard blending contributed to a consistency of style and quality that has cemented Penfolds reputation as the foremost producer of premium age-worthy red wines in Australia.
