Freddy R. Troya

9.3

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2023
South Australia 🇦🇺

Overview
A more tightly wound and concentrated expression of Bin 389, showcasing the same Cabernet-Shiraz framework (Cabernet for backbone, Shiraz for richness) but delivered with greater tension, density, and youthful drive. This vintage leans more serious and structured than 2022, highlighting the fascinating impact vintage conditions have on balance, ripeness, and extraction in agricultural wines.

Aromas & Flavors
Intense blackcurrant, crushed blackberry, dark cherry, and graphite dominate the aromatics, layered with fresh cedar, cocoa nib, and subtle minty spice. The palate is compact and powerful, showing darker fruit concentration, savory spice, and tightly coiled oak structure that promises excellent evolution with time.

Mouthfeel
Full-bodied and more compact than the 2022. Tannins are firmer and more youthful, giving a punchier, more linear profile. The wine feels energetic and focused, with impressive density and length, clearly built for further integration.

Food Pairings
Char-grilled steak or venison. Slow-braised beef cheeks. Pepper-crusted lamb. Smoked meats and firm aged cheeses.

Verdict
A bolder, more muscular Bin 389 that trades immediate plushness for intensity and aging potential. A striking reminder of how vintage variation shapes personality, same blueprint, very different expression.

Did You Know?
Penfolds sources fruit for Bin 389 from multiple South Australian regions, blending different terroirs and climates to build complexity, consistency, and layered structure across vintages.

🍷 Personal Pick
If you enjoy tracking wine evolution, this is a fantastic candidate for short-to-mid-term cellaring, revisit in a few years to watch the structure melt into harmony. Also check my previous 2022 review!
— 8 months ago

Alexandre Czesnat

8.9

BlackBerry, Oak, Tobbaco aromas, chocolate, a bold Cabernet Sauvignon with really good quality — 2 years ago

Kate

9.8

So grateful to be able to dink this wine Thanksgiving Eve. — 2 years ago

Christine Goettl Maslan

10

Amazing! So many complex and delicious flavors! — 6 years ago

Frank

9.0

Jason brought for boys golf week. Spainish. 10 yr great. — 7 years ago

Lynn Derbyshire

9.0

Rich, thick, smooth, just yummy!!! A smoky essence that was surprising. Had it with grilled chicken and tomatillo salsa. Divine. would be awesome with a steak or lamb. 8/10/18 — 8 years ago

Doctor No

9.1

Wow. This is young, and the nose is a bit of dark red berry suffusing a sea of resolving American Oak. The American oak is so pronounced that, had I tasted this blind, I might have taken it for Ridge... :) This has decades ahead, even if -only- a Riserva. Like La Rioja Alta 904, a fantastic value in old school Rioja... — 9 years ago

Christopher Beatty

9.0

Full flavor. Not too jammy. — 10 years ago

TheSkip

8.9

Winner of the most obnoxious wax job this year. And to boot, adding a pull tab?

I was expecting better things from this wine. To me, it wasn't appreciably different from Meomi. If I had paid the same as Meomi, I'd be singing a different tune. But the #QPR is poor here.

You can tell a mile away that this is a Wagner family wine. There is the over extraction and sweet vanilla oak that dominates. I really thought with Pinot Noir things would be different. Now I'm thinking that they really only know how to make one style of wine and bending the grapes to fit the style. That, or they're just adding the Mega Purple to everything. — 10 years ago

Luca Chavez

9.7

Balanced,cherries,luscious,oak smooth finish — 14 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Quite a light to mid lemon in colour for its 11 years of age. Nutty (almond and cashew) aromas. Oak has integrated. The palate shows those same nutty notes together with that trademark pear character with white nectarine. Overall still youthful. My remaining 3 bottles will easily see out this decade. — 9 months ago

"Odedi"

9.1

Dark ruby in color with a wide reddish rim.

Beautiful nose of black currants, plums, licorice, light oak, spices, chocolates, earth, eucalyptus and black pepper.

Medium plus in body with medium plus acidity.

Dry on the palate with currants, plums, cooked cherries, spices, oak, licorice, tobacco, herbs, earth, dark chocolates, coffee and peppercorn.

Medium finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 7 year old Rioja is starting to drink very nicely now. Elegant and nicely balanced. Complex and entertaining.

Will continue to age nicely in the next 5 to 7 years.

Good by itself as a sipping wine or with food.

14% alcohol by volume.

91 points.

$20. — 10 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.4

A blend of 80% Tempranillo with 15% Garnacha, rest Graciano and Mazuelo, aged 5 years in American oak, deep Ruby with aromas of red fruits, spice and earthy notes. On the palate flavors of strawberry and black cherry with spice, tobacco and cedar notes. Fine rustic tannins, long finish, savory ending with tobacco and earthy character. Nice! — 4 years ago

Mickenzi Schank

9.0

Lots of forward fruit, red currant and blackberry. Subtle mid palate. Just a nip of tannins on the finish. Overall smooth and easy drinking. — 6 years ago

Myles Taylor

9.1

Sweet finish — 7 years ago

Jon Bergqvist

9.1

Got to work on getting back to Rioja. It’s been 20+ years. Majestic and a bit to big for my taste but still very enjoyable. Very soft tannins and oak quite present but not vulgar in any way. — 8 years ago

Kristin the Wine Girl

9.0

Oaky berry campfire. Not a typical cab. Lay down a few years to take off some fruit for some more substance. — 9 years ago

Ki Punwar

Owner, California Wine Republic

9.0

Still has it's fruit; but with the oak still dominating — 9 years ago

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

9.0

Classic cherries, leather, dirt, sweet and sour, balsamic and American oak. Better after a couple hours on the decanter. It doesn't knock my socks off, but it's an amazing value at the price. — 11 years ago

Nick Wolfe

9.5

This is astonishing. Beautiful and powerful with a smoky, oaky, black-fruity, spicy nose that won't quit. Palate is rich with loads of fruit, sweet vanilla oak, and a port-like quality. This wine has monastrell's blueberry, black fruit, iron tincture, and beef blood signature. Skip the steak and pair this with savory for foods for a fantastic contrast. Finish is long and playfully tasty. — 12 years ago

Conrad Green

9.5

Pretty and floral. Raspberry and a delicate precision. Drinking really well now. Oak perfectly integrated. — 9 months ago

with Paul and Ara

Greg Andrew

9.0

12/20/25 - Steak dinner with spinach nookie & bread roll. — 9 months ago

with Beth

Mark

9.3

Deepest of Ruby color. Amazing nose with a hint of cinnamon. I’m a big fan of Malbec but the petit Verdot really balances this wine out. Great legs and deep color make a visually appealing drink. Tons of fruit and mild tannins to balance the fruit out. Drinking this wine on Christmas Eve and I feel a little guilty like I opened a present early. Trefethen never disappoints. — 2 years ago

Ericsson

9.4

Happy Father’s Day. Pop and pour Tig full of rustic elegance. Deep garnet color with notes of wet forest, tobacco, blackberry, plum, leather, and wet earth. Additional chocolate and oak notes on the pallet. Smooth as velvet, on the bolder side (definitely full bodied); dry with medium acidity, medium alcohol and smoothed out tannings. Cheers. — 5 years ago

Robert Evans Jr

9.1

Tremendous & Intense Nose Clean Crisp Honeydew Melon. Butter Toffee on the Palate. @Ron R channeling my inner you on this description — 7 years ago

with Nicole

James Shamas

9.4

Amazing full bodied zin. Beautiful barrel character. Drink now — 8 years ago

Chris England

9.4

Top year 904 @ £75 that was drank in Zalto burg glass as its like an aged burgundy

🐽 Paired w/ Iberian Ham 😍

🍷 Garnet ruby w/ brick

👃 Smoked burnt oak, soggy earthy leaves, leather, dark cherry & figs w/ balsamic & damson

👄 Med body of creamy stewed cherry w/ earthy balsamic & slight mocha

🎯 Med finish of above w/ earthy balsamic linger

Reaching peak but I preferred the 95 904 over this but the 890 94 was better than the 95! — 9 years ago

Peter Wassam

9.1

Definitely some noticeable oak here but it's exquisitely integrated leading to plush texture and plum, tobacco, some black pepper and coke(the liquid form). Black cherry. This is long, soft and delicious — 10 years ago

Courtney Fletcher

8.9

Tastes like a glorious oak tree, surprisingly tannins — 11 years ago

Joel Fariss

9.0

3.99 at trader joes. — 13 years ago