Ranked #4 of 15 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz from Barossa Valley
95/100
5 Stars
Huon Hooke
Deep red with a good purple tint; the aroma is well integrated with nothing standing out: nicely balanced spice and berry, smoke and toasty-barrel touches, earth and dark-plum and traces of black pepper. The palate is intense and full-bodied, with a good degree of elegance but also plenty of trad Penfolds bite and grip. A superbly rich, balanced and rounded wine; a complete item, and an outstanding Bin 389. The finish rolls on and on.
Tasted: 23/09/2014
Drink: N/A
91 Points Robert Parker
A blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Shiraz made with fruit from Wrattonbully, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Robe that was aged 12 months in American oak hogsheads, 40% of which were new, the deep garnet-purple colored 2012 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz is slightly closed with the Cabernet / cassis leading the nose marked by warm red and black plums, Mediterranean herbs, pepper and cedar. In the mouth notes of vanilla and cedar wrap around the warm black fruit core that is framed by firm, chewy tannins and just enough acid. It finishes long.
Source: Robert Parker (Robert Parker Wine Advocate) by Lisa Perrotti-Brown. October, 2014
97 Points James Halliday
Deep, dense crimson-purple; the profound bouquet offers every kind of black fruits imaginable, large and small, yet somehow leaves a space and air in the mix for more complex secondary characters to emerge given time - lots of it. The palate takes all this, and adds to it with barrel ferment characters introducing licorice and touches of wild herb. This wine fully lives up to the great expectations held of it (and the vintage). Arguably the bargain of the release. Drink to 2040.
-. July, 2021
96 Points Tyson Stelzer
Every year I have the opportunity to judge Bin 389 pre-release in The Great Australian Red competition, and it never shows at its best at this young age. It''s predictably closed up like a trap on the eve of its new, early release date of mid-October 2014. Vigorous decanting and hours and even days of coaxing slowly draw out impressive layers of black fruits and reticent violet perfume, set within a rigid and finely strung cage of impeccable tannin structure. It is plainly apparent from the outset is that this is one of the benchmark, long-lived releases in the grand, 42 year lineage of Bin 389. Do not miss it and, above all, do not dare open a bottle in the next decade, and preferably the next two. This year, a blend of 54% cabernet sauvignon and 46% shiraz from Wrattonbully, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Robe. Drink 2032 - 2047.
Source: Tyson Stelzer.