Exuberantly purple, this wine reeks of huge, fruity raspberries at first; this is the classic “raspberry motor oil” Randall Grahm joked about back in 2002. Look again, though, and you see a hint of age creeping in at the rim; you can also smell sweet camphor and bottle age in there as well.Relatively full body, bright acidity nicely frames a wine that isn’t lacking for flavor at all. At this point, what you get is more of a Cabernet style wine but with brash fruit that isn’t typically Cabernet. Ultimately, it’s a vibrant, boundless sort of wine that’s a hell of a lot of fun. Again, however, like the St Henri from last week, what’s lacking is a sense of place or style. However, at least this wine has firmer tannins to support all of that over-the-top fruitiness; that’s why I think this wine is in fact a better effort. (Costing half as much doesn’t hurt either.)Penfolds
Price: $18
Closure: Cork
$18… me thinks not. If you can find anywhere that stocks it for that buy a box or even better, several. Its more likely to sell for $60 though…
That’s what the price tag on the bottle said – if I remember correctly, it came from Cost Plus in Redmond, Washington. Of course, the dollar’s worth a lot less these days, but you can still find Bin 389 for $32 or so in the States, thankfully!