Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon represents the Penfolds house red wine style at its most rich and powerful. Typically it is immensely concentrated with dark berry/dark chocolate fruit, balanced and enhanced by well-seasoned new oak, plenty of fruit sweetness and strong, but not overwhelming tannins. Breaking with the tradition of using storage bin numbers, Bin 707 was named after the Boeing 707, the aircraft that brought Australia closer to the rest of the world during the 1960s! The wine is sourced from the best parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon which are vinified in open stainless steel fermenters before undergoing partial barrel-fermentation in new American oak hogsheads for a period of 18 months.
Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills. 20 months in new American oak... Okay. All the Penfolds wines taste and smell the same but this tastes and smells different. There goes that theory. Orange liqueur, blackcurrant, choc mint, peanut brittle. It’s big, powerful and sleek; you could fly to London in this. It has the tannin handshake of a hero and such bulging arms of fruit that they’d do a gaol gym rat proud. Of all the wines tasted on the day this was the one I drained the most; my lips were locked to the rim. It wasn’t me, it was the wine. It’s compelling. Iron fists always are.
97 points, Wine Front, October 2018.
"Deep, dark red colour with a good tint of purple. The bouquet is relatively fruit-driven for a Bin 707, showing clearly defined cassis and sweetly ripe blackberry aromas, and a hint of green bean. An immaculate wine, still strongly built and with big structure, but seems less oaky than earlier, more traditional vintages. Indeed, it's a more elegant Bin 707, perhaps without the prodigious length I associate with this wine. The aftertaste still carries the typical mouth-puckering tannin, though. Drink 2020-2036."
95 points, Huon Hooke, October 2018.
"2016 is a commanding season for Bin 707, building considerable presence thanks to the combination of a warm start to summer and mild, slow ripening thereafter. The result delivers layers of crunchy, tangy black- and red currant fruit of impressive concentration and focus, met squarely with firm American oak, serving to stifle the precision of fruit a little at the moment, but promising to release it given sufficient time. As ever, it screams out for decades in the cellar. Drink 2036-2051."
96 points, Tyson Stelzer, October 2018.
"39% Coonawarra, 38% McLaren Vale, 14% Barossa Valley, 9% Adelaide Hills. After a hot beginning, the welcome milder ‘Indian summer’ conditions leading into harvest across South Australia ensured even ripeness and optimal flavour. 20 months in new American oak hogsheads. TA 6.8 g/l, pH 3.69. Very dark purple. Round and voluptuous. Round and rich and vibrant. Sage note. Interesting and appetising.14.5% Drink 2023-2045."
17.5 points, Jancis Robinson MW, October 2018.
"Insanely serious and awesomely long, this is a stupendous Bin 707 a while it looks a little like the 2010 in its deportment (one of my favourite Bin 707 vintages) it is also a globally serious Cabernet and whether you like Left Bank claret, Napa, Bolgheri or indeed Margaret River. This wine is a work of rare art and it could only come from Australia. The nose alone is worth the money. The tannins make me want to weep with joy. In between the flavour opens gradually revealing every single facet of this grape’s spectacular charms. It is a perfect wine and it is also a perfect Cabernet. It is also more forward than you would believe for a wine of this calibre and this is testament to the epic quality of the fruit. 20+/20 (2025 – 2065)."
20+/20 points, Matthew Jukes, October 2018.
"Aged in American oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 stands out for its bold aromas of vanilla, tobacco and cassis. This year, it's close to 40% each from Coonawarra and McLaren Vale, with smaller proportions from Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills. It's full-bodied and rich, with a velvety mouthfeel, great intensity and super length. Yes, it's embryonic, but it's not unapproachable, much like any other high-quality New World Cabernet these days, with the ability to age for two decades or more. Drink 2020-2040."
98 points, Joe Czerwinski for robertparker.com, October 2018.
Aged in American oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 stands out for its bold aromas of vanilla, tobacco and cassis. This year, it's close to 40% each from Coonawarra and McLaren Vale, with smaller proportions from Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills. It's full-bodied and rich, with a velvety mouthfeel, great intensity and super length. Yes, it's embryonic, but it's not unapproachable, much like any other high-quality New World Cabernet these days, with the ability to age for two decades or more. Drink 2020-2040.
100 points, Andrew Caillard MW, October 2018.
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.
