2013 Bin 707

(aged for 18 months in new American oak hogsheads): Inky purple. Powerful scents of cherry compote, cassis, fruitcake, vanilla and floral pastilles, with notes of pipe tobacco and cedary oak adding complexity. Deeply concentrated, oak-spiced dark berry and bitter cherry flavors stain the palate, with juicy acidity giving the wine an impressively energetic character. Suave, densely packed and extremely young, finishing with powerful thrust, youthfully chewy tannins and strikingly persistent sweetness.

First vintage 1964 (the wine was not made from 1970 to 1975, when fruit was directed to other wines, nor in 1981, 1995, 2000, 2003 or 2011, when fruit of the required style and quality was not available). 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, Coonawarra. Made just like Grange, so ferment finishes in barrel. Just four or five days' skin contact. 16 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. TA 6.4 g/l, pH 3.53. Very dark crimson with some purple. Lots of methoxypyrazines on the nose – bit of a shock after all these 100% Shirazes. A bit austere but there is lots buried in there. (JR)

Deep garnet-purple, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 is a classic, offering scents of cassis, warn blackberries and cedar with suggestions of pencil lead, black soil and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the solidly built palate has great concentration and generous fruit with the oak poking through a little at this youthful stage in the long finish.