Penfolds 407 & 389

kevin.
just bought 2 bottles of the bin 389, haven't tried them, yet/ just tried the 98 bin 389, pretty good, nice fruit, anise, & coffee, a litle mocha. not as good as the 96. if you try the 99 post tastin notes. love the oz.

will work for wine

The only 389 experiences I have had have been very, very negative. 2 bottles, both severely corked....I'm scared to try the replacement bottle I have!!

Kelvin,

The 389 is a perenial favorite of mine, and I recently uncorked a bottle of the '99, decanted, and found it more than up to snuff for this cuvee.

best,
Keith

I had a '99 Bin 389, was a bit acidic for my taste with heavy tannins. Not as good as the '98 IMO.

My only previous experience was a 1993 in 2000, pretty mature & most enjoyable. The 1998 I tried a couple of months ago and --though decanted for more than one hour-- needed no less than two years before I can rave about it (and I have no Spanish palate). The British/Oz press are going wild over its quality; of the 1999 I have not even heard. Its price around Europe is a joke; over here is just pretty reasonable.

Kelvin,

If you look at the attached link you'll see that James Halliday prefers the 98' to the 99' Bin 389.

http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/search/advsearch_winereview_extract.jsp?wine_type=-1&variety_id=-1&wine_name=penfolds&vintage_year=1999&author=&taste_rating=&taste_date=&wine_fo od=&country_id=®ion_id=&sub_region=&winery_id=&sort_by=0&Submit.x=14&Submit.y=2

Gerry

Tried the 98 Bin 389 tonight on a whim.

Earthy colored red, bit of dustyness to it. It was a chewy glass, strong tannins, but the fruit was able to poke through. Drank over the course of about three hours and it opened up but never really resolved the tannins into the fruit.

Paid $25 and would not seek out another bottle of this, but makes me want to look for something that would be the full Shiraz/Cab experience.

Rated 88 by WS and 89 by Parker, seems about right to me.

Australian wines are very difficult sometimes to sort out between Parker - WS - WE and Tanzer! I find the best and most accurate Australian Note's from Nicks Vintage Direct from Australia who has most down under wines pegged where they need to be @ http://www.nicks.com.au/! They do a great job of being a composite of the above four references. They give the Australian perspective of what the wine should be rated and priced!

hutchone,

As an Australian I have to tell you that in my opinion Nicks scores are about the least reliable and accurate around. The general opinion amongst most educated wine buyers that I know is that the score given by Nick is directly related to his profit potential for the wine involved.

In short, his scores are a joke.

Just a few examples

2000 Temple Bruer Shiraz Malbec 97
2000 Saltram Mamre Brook Shiraz 95
1996 Orlando Lawson`s Padthaway Shiraz 93

2000 Bowen Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 98
1996 Penfolds Grange Hermitage 96

1998 Edwards & Chaffey Section 353 Shiraz 96
1998 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 94

The mind boggles at these scores.

The Lawson is so far superior to the Temple Bruer and Mamre Brook its laughable.

96 Grange which is one of the best wines I have ever drunk is two points lower than the very ordinary 2000 Bowens. Who are they trying to kid?

And finally the 98 Edwards and Chaffey (made by the same company as Penfolds) being better than the 98 Bin 707, sheer bloody madness.

Credibility? WHAT credibility! There is none with these sort of scores.

Cheers
Ric

I've had both the 98 and 99 Bin 389. The 99 I gave 90 points, one point lower than the 98 in my book. But I thought the 99 had some upside potential when I had in 3-4 months ago. The 98 Bin 407 I gave 90 points as well, have not had the 99.

CabNut